Akane's Keyblade
by Shritistrang
Summary: Akane is annoyed that her sisters as well as her fiance have become heroes... but when the dark creatures called Heartless appear, Akane will get her chance to protect the world she loves. Crossover with Kingdom Hearts, Sailor Moon, Digimon and Evangelion
1. Nerima Heroes

School was out for today. For once, Ranma managed not to get into a fight or being challenged by someone OR being assaulted by one of his fiancees.

This time, he just walked back home with Akane.

Their relationship really had improved over the past few months. Akane had realized that it wouldn't do him - or her, for that matter - any good to punt him into the atmosphere anytime she got angry. And Ranma - wonder of all wonders - had realized that it hurt Akane if he called her uncute, or a tomboy.

Well, he still called her a bad cook, but that was no lie.

"Ranma..." Akane said with an impish grin as they walked along the street. "What do you say we don't go home right away? There's this nice restaurant over there... and you could invite me for lunch..."

Ranma immediately brightened up. Lunch? And Akane didn't even suggest to cook herself? That sounded like a good idea to him.

He grinned. "Sure, lead the way!"

Akane smiled. That would be a really good way to start anew with their relationship. And if the day continued to be as good as it was now, they would be able to sit through their meal without being interrupted...

A sudden beep coming from Ranma's pocket made her freeze on the spot.

"Oh, it's the Senshi communicator. Just a second, Akane..."

Akane sighed and leaned against a wall. It had been too good to be true...

Meanwhile, Ranma was speaking into the small device. "Ami? Yeah, I'm just on my way from school... what, another Youma attack? That's the third one this month... I see, but can't you ask Mamoru, since I really wanted to... oh... it's that bad, huh? Oh well, I guess I have no choice then. Yeah, I'll be there. See ya then!"

He put the communicator back into his pants and sighed. "Sorry, Akane, but the girls really need me. A couple of rogue Youmas have attacked a nursing home, and they have their hands full. You don't mind if I..."

Akane sighed and nodded. "Sure, Ranma, go ahead! I understand, it's your duty and all..."

Ranma grinned. "Great! Listen, sorry about lunch and all... I'll make it up to you some time, okay?"

She nodded.

"Great! Love ya!" He pulled out an unusual pen, looked that nobody was around, and then raised it above his head. "Terra Star Power, Make Up!"

A short lightshow, and Ranma was transformed into his female self, wearing a dark green Senshi skirt and her red hair down.

Sailor Terra smirked at her fiancee. "See ya then, Akane! Tell Kasumi it's going to be late, okay?" And with a single leap, she was on top of the nearest house, from where she started running and leaping towards Juuban. If she hurried, she might make it in 10 minutes.

Akane sighed. Ever since her fiance found out that he was the reincarnated sister of the ancient Earth Prince, he had to help his fellow Senshi every now and then. She understood that it was his duty and all, but she still felt annoyed that every time they needed him, she had just planned to spend some quality time with her lover...

When she came home, she opened the door with a sad face and murmured: "I'm home..."

"Welcome home, Akane!" Kasumi replied from the kitchen.

Akane gave the living room a short look and saw her father and Genma sitting at their Shogi game. No, nothing unusual here...

Akane then went into the kitchen. "Kasumi, Ranma won't come home for lunch. Do you want me to help you?"

At that point, she stepped onto a yellow, furry tail that was draped across the floor.

"YEOWCH! Damn, Akane! Be a bit more careful!"

Akane giggled sheepishly and quickly stepped to the side. "Oops... sorry about that, Leormon!"

The little, yellow-furred lion cub Digimon with the golden collar glared at her while licking his tail. "Sheesh, you'd think you might have gotten used to me living in the same house as you..."

"I'm terribly sorry, Leormon!" Akane told her older sister's Digimon partner. "I just had so many things on my mind..."

She then realized that Kasumi wasn't preparing lunch... she was preparing a lunch box.

"Kasumi... what are you doing?" she murmured.

Kasumi smiled. "I'm sorry to say this, Akane, but there's been... an unexpected emergency. I'm afraid I can't stay for lunch either."

Akane groaned. "Digidestined business?"

Kasumi nodded. "See, it's like this: You remember when all those Digimon appeared in the real world and my friends and I had to bring them back to the Digital World? Well, it looks like a few of them have stayed behind... and they actually managed to stay hidden for all those years. But now a few of them have gotten restless and attacked the apartment buildings in that district. So Tai and the others have decided to go there and bring them back to the Digital World. And I decided to help them."

That's just like Kasumi, Akane thought. Always willing to help others. While she had been a Digidestined for several years now, Akane still was surprised how sweet, gentle Kasumi was willing to fight alongside her friends... even though it was Leormon who did the fighting for her.

"Listen, there's some leftovers in the fridge... please try not to set the kitchen on fire when warming it up." That statement would have made Akane, if Kasumi only wouldn't smile at her so warmly.

"Okay, I promise... if you promise to stay out of danger."

"Oh, I'm pretty sure Leormon will be able to protect me," Kasumi smiled while petting her partner's tuft of red head fur.

"Hey, I'm your partner," the lion cub grinned. "It's my job to take care of you."

Kasumi giggled. "Okay, I have everything I need... we should get going."

They left the kitchen and Kasumi called: "Father, I'm leaving now!"

A simple nod was the only reply she got.

"Aren't you going to call a cab?" Akane asked her sister.

"Oh no," Kasumi shook her head as she approached the computer that was standing in one corner of the living room. "I'm going to take a shortcut through the Digital World. Have a nice day, Akane!"

Another flash of light later, and Kasumi and Leormon vanished inside the computer screen.

Akane sighed. "Looks like this day is getting pretty boring..." she grumbled. "Maybe Nabiki has some idea how to..."

She gasped in surprise when her other sister came running down the stairs.

"Careful, sis! Coming through! No time to lose!"

"N-nabiki!" Akane said. "What's gotten into you?" Her mercenary sister barely was seen in a hurry like this, she usually had her friends from school/lackeys to do the urgent jobs.

Unless she had to...

"Oh no..." Akane sighed. "No, no, please don't tell me that you, too..."

Nabiki turned around and grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, little sis! But when the Commander calls, I can't just stay at home. There was an Angel sighted in the northern sea, and we've been ordered to intercept it before it reaches the coast. And you know how helpless Shinji and the girls are without me..."

"I can't believe it..." Akane grumbled. "Can't there be a single day where not all of you have to leave because of some 'emergency'?"

"Hey, give us a break, Akane! We're not doing this for fun. You know I'm doing this because it was mother's last wish. Kasumi and Leormon share a bond, as Digidestined and Digimon partner. And don't let me get started about Ranma, his role has been decided by fate."

"Fate..." Akane muttered. "Does fate have to endanger the ones I love the most?"

"Sorry, what did you say? I didn't quite get that... never mind, I have no time. I still need to get my Eva Unit ready, and I certainly don't want to be the last to arrive at the battle scene. Did I already tell you how much I hate it when Asuka laughs at me?"

"Multiple times, sis!" Akane sighed. "Oh well, I guess I'll wish you good luck... and tell Mom I said hi, will ya?"

"Got it! Later, little sis!"

Seeing Nabiki run outside, there wasn't much Akane could do but to sit down and sulk.

* * *

Nabiki ran out of the house and into the back yard. She pressed a hidden button, and all of a sudden, the koi pond's water was drained, and a deep shaft opened up beneath it. Nabiki climbed onto the small platform that had appeared and pressed yet another button. The turbo lift then shot downwards, carrying Nabiki deep below the earth, while above her, the shaft automatically closed.

When the turbo lift stopped, Nabiki stepped out into the Tendo's personal Evangelion hangar... a huge room filled with all the machinery needed to take care of an Evangelion Unit. As the student of Ritsuko Akagi, Nabiki could take care of everything by herself... and in case she needed some help, she just had to call NERV.

And the best thing was: All of this was being financed by the government.

When she was sitting in her cockpit, a faint smirk appeared on the middle Tendo's face. "All right, Mom... let's show them what we're made of."

Evangelion Unit 04 let out an approving growl.

* * *

When Akane saw how the huge launch shaft behind the Tendo Dojo opened, she covered her ears. Just a few minutes after the shaft was fully opened, the roar of the Evangelion Unit made the whole neighborhood shake. And then, Unit 04 came shooting out of the shaft, like a giant meteor on its way to impact. When it was high above Nerima, Nabiki activated the jet engines, an invention she had added to her own unit herself, making it hover in the air.

Akane watched how Unit 04 was giving her a salute with her fingers, then it turned around and flew north.

The youngest Tendo sister sighed. Now she was the only one left in the house... except for her fathers, who wouldn't move an inch until they had finished at least five games of Shogi.

"Maybe I'll just go in the dojo and spar..." Akane murmured.

* * *

The next wooden dummy got smashed into pieces by Akane's foot.

It wasn't fair! It just wasn't fair! Both of her sisters AND her fiance were some sort of super heroes and left their home regularly to fight against all sorts of evil menaces, while she had to stay at home with their lazy fathers, worried about those she loved and bored herself to death. For some time, she wished that Shampoo or Kodachi would come by, so she had some way to unwind as well.

To be honest, Akane was tremendously jealous of Nabiki, Ranma and Kasumi. While they could do all kinds of cool stuff with their Senshi powers, Digimon partner and Evangelion Unit, respectively, she was 'just' a normal martial artist... and she wasn't even as powerful as Shampoo or Ukyo.

It just wasn't fair.

After smashing another dozen of training dummies, Akane slumped down to the floor, panted heavily and then gritted her teeth.

'Dammit!' she thought. 'Why can't I be like them? Why can't I have some super powers? Why can't I have some important role in life, just like them? I want to protect Earth as well, fight against bad guys, show them that I'm not just a weak, little girl who has to stay at home and...'

She stopped herself in mid-sentence when something caught her eye. Was it just her imagination or did the floor just shine in a bright light?

"What's going on here?" Akane muttered. She got up from the floor and approached the spot where she had seen the strange light.

She knelt down and touched the floor... and yes, there was that strange light again. It looked like it was forming a certain shape...

"A... keyhole?" Akane murmured while looking at the strange, shining keyhole that had appeared on the floor of her family's dojo.

She stood up, scratching her head. "Now what is this?" she murmured. "Did this appear here just a short while ago... or has it been here the whole time?" She shook her head. "What am I saying? I guess I would have noticed it if there was a glowing keyhole in the dojo..."

She then thought of something. "If this is a keyhole... does that mean there's also a key for it somewhere?"

It was then when she heard the whispering voices in her head:

'The Keyblade... the Keyblade...'

Akane gasped when, all of a sudden, something appeared in her hand with a flash. It looked like a weapon, but at the same time, also like a huge key. It had the handle of a samurai sword... but the shape of a modern key, just like a padlock key or something similar. The handle was bright red while the key part, which doubled as a blade, shone in a brilliant silver.

Akane raised the curious weapon and looked at her mirror image in its blade.

"The... Keyblade?" she murmured.

* * *

In the early morning, before Ranma and Akane were heading for school, Kodachi Kuno was sitting in the basement of her family's mansion, surrounded by stacks of old books.

The self-proclaimed Black Rose turned the next page and murmured to herself: "Ancient potions, unknown poisons... nothing here that could help me ensnare my beloved Ranma-darling..."

She sighed and threw the book she had been reading to the side. It had been weeks since she had been to school or even in the upper levels of the mansion. Day in and out, she was going through all the ancient books from the family library, just so she could finally get rid of all those hussies around her beloved Ranma... especially that red-haired trollop and that witch Akane Tendo.

"They'll all see..." she grumbled. "Ranma will be mine..." That's when her gaze fell upon a stack of books directly next to her.

"I've never seen this one before..." she murmured before picking up a black book with a strange emblem on its front. "Mysteries of the Heart... Corridors of Darkness... Heartless and their Behavior... Author: Ansem..."

The door opened. "Sister!" Kodachi groaned. Great, it was her oaf of a brother...

"What do you want, brother?" she snapped. "Can't you see I am studying?"

Tatewaki gave her an arrogant sneer. "Believe me, I don't care what you do in your free time. Without any doubt, you're once again trying to win the heart of the foul sorcerer, Saotome... but I don't care. I just came because I can't find the flowers I have bought for the beauteous Akane... or the pig-tailed girl... or both. Did you see them?"

Kodachi gritted her teeth. "Brother, please do me a favor and leave. Your stupidity might be infectious..."

A dark frown appeared on Tatewaki's face. "Sister, as the first-born and the male heir of the house of Kuno, I still demand respect!" He then saw the book she was holding. "Say, what is that? I haven't seen it in our library before..."

"That's none of your business, Tatewaki!" Kodachi hissed, while clutching the book to her chest. In her rage, she even addressed her brother by his first name, something she did very rarely. "Leave, now!"

"As you wish..." Tatewaki grumbled. "But I warn you: If the evil sorcerer insists on staying between me and my loved ones, you might not get the chance of being with him..." He left the basement and slammed the door behind him.

"Delusional fool!" Kodachi grumbled. "Can't he see that Ranma is no sorcerer?" She smiled. "No, he is the most handsome and noble warrior I've ever seen in my life... instead, those two hussies are the evil ones. You might watch out yourself, dear brother... or else your brides-to-be might turn into corpses... OHOHOHOHOHOH!"

She kept on laughing, not noticing how the darkness surrounded her heart. She then took a look at the book. "Now then, what do we have here...?"

* * *

The evil sorceress Maleficent smiled to herself. "See that, gentlemen?" she asked. "That girl has filled her heart with darkness... but she isn't consumed by it yet. I wonder how far her obsession with that boy goes..."

"Are you planning on making her part of our little group?" the sea witch Ursula smirked. "I always said we'd need a few more females among our ranks..."

"Feh, according to her laugh, she's a maniac!" Hades grumbled. "I have a few poor souls like that in the Underworld..."

"She might be demented, God of the Dead," Maleficent smirked. "But maybe we can use that to our advantage... after she passes my little test."

"Ooooh, so that's why you let her find that book!" the sack of bugs called Oogie Boogie laughed. "You are one sneaky witch, Maleficent!"

"Well, wouldn't you have done the same? The last thing we need is another Keyblade master. If we're in luck, Miss Kuno will take care of her before she learns to properly use her Keyblade... and maybe we can turn her into a Heartless. Doesn't that sound nice? A former Keyblade master as a Heartless, willing to do as we say..."

She waved around her hand, and the image on the table they were standing around changed and showed a confused Akane, as she was holding her new Keyblade...

* * *

"That was a fine game, Tendo!" Genma grinned as he stood up from the ground.

His old friend frowned at him. "Yes, because you have won three times in a row... you haven't cheated, have you, old friend?"

"Who? Me?" Genma asked innocently. "I don't know what you are talking about..."

Soun raised an eyebrow. "Then please explain to me why there are so many more pieces on your side than on mine..."

SPLASH!

Genma raised a wooden sign. 'Pieces? What pieces? I'm just a cute little panda...'

Soun sighed. He then saw his youngest daughter entering the room... and she was holding an unusual weapon. At least it looked like a weapon to him... or maybe it was just a huge key.

"What do you have there, Akane?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, Daddy," Akane muttered as she sat down. "It looks like some sort of sword... I just found it in the dojo... although I have the feeling that it 'found' me..."

Soun frowned. "In the dojo? We don't have such weapons in the dojo."

"Then you don't know anything about a shiny keyhole either?" Akane asked. Seeing her father's confused face, she sighed. "Oh, never mind..."

She hoped Nabiki would come home soon. Her sister was the most clever person she knew, and maybe she could help her find out what this weird key was all about.

And maybe she would even do it for free...

Akane was pulled out of her thoughts when a black shadow came seeping through the floor. It took shape and became a black creature with a pair of yellow, gleaming eyes and twitching feelers. It wasn't much bigger than a child, but it certainly looked menacing.

Instinctively, Akane reached for her Keyblade and jumped to her feet. "Wh-what is that thing?" she shouted.

Suddenly, even more of the shadow creatures appeared all around her. And their eyes were all directed at her... or rather, at the key-shaped weapon in her hand.

'The Keyblade... the Keyblade...'

"S-saotome!" Soun gasped when they were surrounded by the black beings. "What's going on here? Certainly, this has to be your fault..."

'Don't look at me,' the panda signed. 'I'm innocent...'

When the first Shadow jumped at her, Akane cried out in surprise and slashed at it with her new weapon. To her surprise, she had no problem handling the unusual blade, and when it hit the Shadow, it was hurled backwards.

She then narrowed her eyes. "All right..." she growled. "If it's a fight you want, you got one!"

Meanwhile, Soun and Genma found themselves surrounded by a mass of Heartless. The tried punching and kicking them away, but they just kept on coming.

'Tendo... in such a situation, there is only one thing we can do.'

"You're right, Saotome!" Soun nodded. "Let's do it together! One... two... three..."

And together, they turned around and ran as fast as they could. "ANYTHING GOES SECRET TECHNIQUE!"

"Oh, damn those two fools..." Akane grumbled. She slashed out with her weapon, and every time she defeated one of the Shadows, it disappeared in a puff of dark smoke.

But as in the case with Genma and Soun, her enemies just kept on coming, and she didn't know for how long she could keep this up.

"Damn you, Ranma!" she shouted. "Every time I need you, you aren't there!"

"Never fear, help is here!" an unknown voice behind her spoke up.

And then, a massive, white shape came crashing down on the Shadows, either smashing them apart or blowing them away with a powerful shockwave.

Akane boggled and stared at the huge, fat, white creature that was standing in front of her. But even more surreal was the small, furry animal sitting on its shoulders. It was wearing a golden crown and held a megaphone.

The black cat riding on the stuffed Moogle gave Akane a smirk and said: "The name's Cait Sith! I suppose you need a hand with these guys, right?"


	2. Three sets of heroes, three distractions

Asuka snarled in the Entry Plug of Unit 02. "What IS this? Does this thing have a core or not?!"

"Not every Angel we've fought has had a Core Asuka," Dr. Ritsuko said over the vid-com, "It's it a common trait but not a universal one among them."

"However," Rei said, "Every Angel Encountered has had an AT field, that is a universal trait. However, our Eva Units' AT fields had failed to cancel out anything."

"The Magi identified the Angel, and we've confirmed it's hostile already."

Shinji shot several rounds at the Angel's head, mostly because it's center was an empty hole. If Shinji hadn't know better, he'd have sworn the hole looked like a Valentine heart. The Angel bent itself over backwards to avoid the rounds. Shinji meekly added his two cents, daring to chit chat during a life and death battle, "Er, could that Magi have been... I don't know... hacked?"

"Almost Impossible." Ritsuko said at once.

Nabiki said nothing, also providing a direct attack like Shinji while Rei and Asuka supported. But she did agree that it was very weird… the moment the EVAs were scrambled, the Angel had stopped moving, it was like the entire point of it showing up had been to get the EVA's attention. "Doctor, are you detecting the presence of any other Angels at all?"

"No Nabiki, why would you even think that?"

"Just a bad feeling. Hope I'm wrong."

* * *

"Something is very wrong with these Digimon," Izzy said as MegaKabuterimon electrocuted the giant Kuwagamon, knocking it back hundreds of yards.

"Huh?" Davis asked, "I don't see a problem! We're kicking their butts!"

"Indeed." Magnamon agreed.

"That's just it." Izzy said, "Haven't you noticed? They haven't said one word this whole time! They aren't even calling out their attacks! Not to mention they aren't even screaming out in pain when hit by our attacks." While some digimon were feral and could not speak, to have there be ones that were totally mute was unheard of.

"You're just over thinking things, if we beat 'em what does it matter?"

Yolei narrowed her own eyes flying on the back of her partner Digimon, "No, Izzy's right! If these things ARE Digimon, how come they've been coming at us like robots? They aren't even TRYING to dodge our attacks."

Kasumi was just glad Akane was safe at home, away from this danger, no matter what it turned out to be.

* * *

Sailor Mars eyes nearly showed flames after the mass of Youmas were hit by a wave of various elemental attacks from the assembled Senshi. Some turned to dust... wait... black smoke?

"All right, whatever you are! Drop the act! Show us what you really look like!"

Sailor Moon looked at Mars confused as did Sailor Terra. "Mars? You feeling okay?"

Mars ignored them, "I'm a psychic! You don't think I can't sense that your auras are almost completely different from the Youmas!? Now end these games already!"

The youmas... stopped... then the black smoke enveloped them. And in their place were much more uniform creatures of darkness, they looked like pudgy clay dolls made of inky blackness, with insect feelers and solid nearly mindless staring yellow eyes. Among them, they saw more humanoid creatures holding rune swords with a small heart shaped hole in their chests.

"Wha?! What is this?!" Sailor Venus exclaimed.

Mercury's mind instantly began to process the situation. 'Is this... a distraction? Or are they just trying to make us use tactics we've used against Youma that wouldn't work against them? But if it's a distraction... what is it a distraction FROM?'

* * *

The Shadow Heartless vanished in puffs of black smoke when Akane's and Cait Sith's strikes defeated them.

For now, Akane was concentrating on taking down the black creatures, but she wondered where that strange cat had come from. She had never seen something like it before... and that's saying something for Nerima!

Finally, the last Shadow fell under one swipe of her Keyblade. Again, Akane was amazed at the ease she was handling the strange weapon with.

The giant, stuffed Moogle turned around and the black cat sitting on its top smirked. "Good job! Although, nothing else could be expected from a Keyblade wielder."

"So it IS called a Keyblade!" Akane shouted. "What do you know about this? Where do you come from? And what were those creatures?"

"Heartless," Cait Sith explained. "Nasty little buggers, aren't they? When they see a Keyblade, there's no way of stopping them: They have to kill the one chosen to carry it."

"Kill me?" Akane gasped. "Wait a minute! Chosen? By who?"

"By the Keyblade, of course!" Cait Sith said. "After you received it, the powers of darkness quickly learned about this world. And the Heartless, always anxious for consuming a world's heart, appear. It's no mere coincidence that they showed up at this place. And indeed, when I followed them, I found you: A new Keyblade Warrior!"

Akane looked at the unusual weapon in her hands. "But I am a martial artist. I've never fought with a weapon before... well, if you don't count my mallet... and what do you mean, this world?"

"Ah, sorry, of course you wouldn't know!" the cat smiled apologetically as he slid down his robotic mount. "See, there are many different worlds out there and this version of Earth you are living one is just one of them. Normally, we wouldn't know about other worlds... but after the Heartless showed up, the barriers between the worlds collapsed, and Gummi Ship travel became possible."

"What's a Gummi...?"

Cait Sith raised his paw. "Please, one thing after another! See, I'm from one of these other worlds, you know? I've been sent to instruct you about your new responsibility, the Keyblade and the Heartless."

Akane sat down on the sofa. "This is a bit too much at once..." she sighed. She looked down at the Keyblade. Only now did she notice a small chain that was attached to its handle, and dangling from that keychain was a small pendant shaped like a mallet.

Akane sweatdropped. Yup, that certainly was her very own Keyblade, no doubt about it.

But it was not just the keychain... somehow, holding the sleek weapon in her hands felt right... it wasn't just any weapon, it was an extension of her arm, something that had become linked with her heart and soul... and somehow, she knew that no matter where she was, she could always call for the help of her Keyblade.

Cait Sith leapt up next to her and sat down as well. "Well, there's much to talk about... what do you like to hear first?"

"Tell me more about these Heartless..."

* * *

Pegasusmon dodged another swipe from the tall, sword-wielding shadow creatures.

"Star Shower!" he shouted, flapping his wings. The brilliant stars raining down from his wings destroyed the Invisible Heartless.

"Good job, Pegasusmon!" T.K. cheered his partner on.

Suddenly, Pegasusmon saw something. "LIOMON! Watch out behind you!"

The powerful, four-legged lion Champion was fighting fiercely and had not noticed how another Invisible had merged from the ground behind him.

Kasumi gasped when she saw how the dark creature struck out with its dark blade. But her Digimon partner leapt up into the air, landed behind the Heartless and charged up energy in his mane.

"THUNDER OF THE KING!" he yelled, and sparks of electricity came forth from his mane, vaporizing the Heartless.

Kasumi sighed in relief. "Oh my, that was close..."

"Looks like that was the last one..." Kari sighed. "My god, what are those things?"

"I don't know!" Nefertimon said as she landed next to her partner and regressed back into Gatomon. "But they certainly were no Digimon."

"Yeah, that sure was a surprise when they transformed into those black monsters," Yolei nodded. "But if they are not Digimon, what are they?"

"That doesn't matter!" Davis smirked confidently. "Whenever they come back, we're gonna kick their butts!"

"Yeah, and I'll do the kicking!" Veemon grinned.

Kasumi was not the only one to shake her head.

* * *

Ranma groaned while she was on her wa back home.

"Whatever those things were..." the redhead grumbled. "Some of them certainly could pack a punch..."

She hadn't bothered to search for some hot water to return to her male form, even though Rei had offered to heat some up. She was exhausted, and the only thing she wanted was to go to bed. While Ami had scanned the strange creatures with her computer, Ranma did not stay around to see the results.

"I'll take a look at them later," she just said and left for home. But Ranma had never been the most patient guy. A trait that he shared with Harmony, the deceased Princess of Earth and sister of Endymion, as Mamoru had pointed out.

Being the reincarnation of that girl was even weirder than being cursed to turn into a girl with cold water. And after he had started to see Harmony in his dreams, he had acquired several of her old memories. According to Sailor Pluto, this was because of the unusual way Ranma had received his Senshi powers... and because the magic of Jusenkyo was affecting Harmony's soul.

Ever since he had realized how hard life had been for Princess Harmony, Ranma decided that being cursed to turn into a member of the opposite gender wasn't quite the worst thing that could happen to a human...

When she arrived at the Tendo Dojo, all she could think of was a warm bath and a good night's rest. She entered the house, murmured a short "I'm back..." and walked past the living room.

She abruptly came to a stop and blinked. Then she looked back into the living room.

Kasumi's new computer standing on the small desk in the corner of the room? Check.

Genma's and Soun's shogi board and its pieces scattered across the floor? Check.

Akane holding a huge key that somehow reminded Ranma of his mother's katana? Check.

A black feline wearing a golden crown sitting next to his fiancee? Check.

Akane gulped. "R-ranma... I d-didn't hear you come in..."

The pig-tailed girl's finger was trembling as she pointed at Cait Sith. "C-c-c-c-cat!! Caaaat!! CAAAAAAAATTT!!"

Cait Sith smiled and raised his paw. "Oh, hi there!"

"YAAAAAAAAAHH!"

Seconds later, there was no trace of the redhead, and a Ranma-shaped hole was in the wall next to the veranda door.

Akane sighed. "I probably should have told you that my fiance's afraid of cats..."

Cait Sith blinked as he looked outside. "You don't say..."

They both winced when they heard a loud 'CLANG' coming from outside, when Ranma collided with the leg of the huge Evangelion Unit that had landed next to the koi pond..

Ranma groaned and fell back on the grass.

Nabiki spoke through her intercom, and her voice echoed through the huge loudspeakers she had attached to her Eva's legs, directly next to the hatch where the combat knife was stored.

"Well, a pleasant evening to you too, Saotome! Did you have a good day at work? Oh, while you're here, could you please open the hangar entrance hatch for me? I think I forgot my keys..."


	3. Magical Couple

Several minutes later, the Evangelion was parked in its underground hangar, Ranma was hiding upstairs and Nabiki and Akane were talking to Cait Sith.

"So, my little sis follows her sisters' lead after all," Nabiki smirked. "Maybe you'd like a few tips how to be a hero? I mean, Kasumi and I have quite a bit of experience how to deal with unwanted visitors from another world..."

"I need to find out more about this Keyblade," Akane said. "Why did it choose me? Why now? And what is that keyhole in the dojo?"

"Aaah, the Keyhole," Cait Sith nodded. "The heart of every world... You see, the Heartless are acting on instinct, always hunting for hearts... but the hearts they desire the most are the hearts of the worlds they visit... and those are the keyholes like the one you've seen."

"And... what will they do once they manage to get to that heart?" Akane wondered.

Cait Sith made a little pause. "The world... will vanish in darkness."

"In other words, don't let the bad guys get near the Keyhole, got it!" Nabiki nodded. "Still, where did they come from, all of a sudden?"

"They must have become aware of your world, somehow. As I already said, the worlds are normally separated from each other, but since the Heartless appeared, everything changed."

"And why did the Keyblade choose me as its new wielder?" Akane asked.

Just when Cait Sith was going to answer, the front door opened, and Kasumi and Leormon came in.

"I'm home... oh, we have a guest!" Kasumi noticed.

Leormon approached Cait Sith and sniffed. "You don't smell like a Digimon, that's for sure..."

Then Kasumi's gaze fell upon Akane's Keyblade.

"Oh my!" she gasped. "Akane, so you finally found Mother's heritage..."

Her younger sisters and the two felines stared at her.

"Can... can you please repeat that, Kasumi?" Akane asked.

"I guess I have a few things to explain," Kasumi sighed and put her bag on the floor. She then sat down with her sisters and their guest.

"Let me get this straight..." Nabiki spoke up. "You KNOW about Akane's new little toy?"

"Hey, it's not a toy!" Akane complained.

"Yes, I knew," Kasumi nodded. "I knew about it as long as I knew that one day, you would become an Evangelion Pilot, Nabiki!"

"Well, good to know!" Akane grumbled. "Is there anything else you haven't told me about?"

"Akane, please try to understand," Kasumi sighed. "I didn't tell you about this earlier because Mother asked me not to tell you."

"MOM knew about this as well?" Nabiki wondered. "Did Daddy..."

Kasumi smiled and shook her head. "No, we decided not to tell Father anything about this until the right time."

"And what time would that be?" Akane asked.

"Until the Keyblade would call out for you, of course!" Kasumi said.

"You seem to know quite a few things about the Keyblade..." Cait Sith murmured. "But this world hasn't been visited by residents of other worlds before..."

"I don't really know too much," Kasumi admitted. "I only know that the previous owner of this weapon left it in Mother's care... I don't know the details, and I also don't know who that man was. From what Mother told me, he was very secretive about his identity and covered his head with a dark hood."

"And she just accepted a weapon from a stranger?" Leormon wondered.

"Not right away. He said that the rightful owner of the Keyblade would come to claim his weapon when the right time arrives, and asked Mother if he could leave it in her care. At first, she wanted to send him away. But then, he told her many things he couldn't have known about... things about her past, and our future. He knew about the Evangelion project Mom and her colleagues from NERV were working on, he predicted that beings from a digital world would arrive in Japan... and that I would share a bond with one of those creatures."

"He knew about us Digimon?" Leormon wondered. "It wasn't Gennai, was it?"

"I don't think so," Kasumi replied. "He also told Mother that the princess of a lost kingdom would come to stay with us... for a long time, I didn't know what he meant with that, but after Ranma told us about his former incarnation, the Princess Harmony..."

"He knew that as well?" Akane asked in awe.

Kasumi nodded. "Yes, and all that knowledge made Mother think about it. In the end, she decided to keep the Keyblade. The man 'sealed' it away in the dojo, as he said. It would only appear to the person that is destined to carry it."

"And... you knew it was me?" Akane asked.

"Not at first... after all, both of you weren't born at that time. I wasn't really supposed to know about all of this either, but in that night, when Mother talked to the stranger, I couldn't sleep and came downstairs, where I could listen to everything they said. I was still too young to understand everything, but after the man was gone, Mother tried to explain everything to me as good as she could. And when I was older, I could understand everything.

Still, she didn't tell me about everything at once. She never mentioned the visitors from a 'digital world' to me, of course. Therefore, I was still very surprised when I visited the summer camp with Tai and the others and got sucked into the Digital World."

"Where you met me," Leormon smirked.

Kasumi nodded. "Yes. Nabiki was still too small to remember everything, since she wasn't much older than Tai's sister, Kari."

"And I still haven't been born yet, I know," Akane sighed. "But what...?"

"I'm getting to it. You know, the adventures in the Digital World were pretty exciting, but also horrifying to me. It was the first time I was confronted with death... and, indirectly, I was even responsible for the death of someone. They were evil Digimon, but still..."

"Don't tell me you mourn over Piedmon's death," Leormon said in a surprised voice. "That bastard deserved it!"

"We already talked about this, Leormon!" Kasumi sighed. "I know we had to do it, but I still don't like it. Anyways, I kept on visiting the Digital World and didn't even think of Mom's visitor anymore... until we were told of the alien life forms that threatened our planet."

"Alien life forms?" Cait Sith wondered.

Nabiki frowned. "The Angels..."

"Indeed, and the day the first of them was found turned out to be a huge disaster."

"You can say that again," Nabiki grumbled. "Adam, the First Angel, was found at Antarctica... and only because of incredible luck could we avert what Dr. Ritsuko always describes as 'Second Impact'. We truly got lucky that Adam got hurled into the atmosphere before he caused that explosion. If he had still been on ground level, this would certainly have caused the Antarctic ice cap to melt. Still, he had buddies..."

"We all know about that, Kasumi, would you get to the point?" Akane impatiently groaned.

"Well, I don't know anything and I believe your sister wouldn't have said it if it wasn't important," Cait Sith pointed out. "Please, go on, Miss Tendo!"

Kasumi smiled and nodded. "Well, as Nabiki said, it wasn't long until the other Angels arrived and attacked Earth. Until now, we were able to fight them off, thanks to a new invention: The Evangelion Units."

"The giant mechanoid Nabiki arrived in, I presume?" Cait Sith asked.

Nabiki smirked. "That's right, I'm the pilot of Eva Unit 04," she proudly proclaimed. "Nabiki Tendo, the Fifth Child, at your service!"

"Mother was one of the scientists who worked on the Evangelion project, together with Naoko Akagi, Yui Ikari and many others," Kasumi explained. "When she found out that Nabiki had been chosen as one of the Eva pilots, she was very proud, but also afraid. She knew that I've been in countless dangers on my journeys through the Digital World... but then she remembered the prophecies of her strange visitor. Realizing that both of her oldest daughters have been chose to serve humanity as some sort of hero, she came to the conclusion that Akane would become something similar."

"I see..." Cait Sith pondered. "And the most logical thing would be the Keyblade, of course... I'd really like to talk to your mother about all of this."

"I'm afraid that's not possible, Mr. Cait Sith," Kasumi sighed. "Mother has been gone missing for several years now... most believe her to be dead."

"There had been a similar case before," Nabiki said. "My fellow pilot's mother, Yui Ikari, also mysteriously vanished some time before that."

"I see..." Cait Sith replied. "So, did you know about the Keyhole as well?"

Kasumi blinked in confusion. "The what?"

"I take that as a no, then," Cait Sith nodded. "Fact is, now that Akane has been revealed as the Keyblade Master, the Heartless will be out to hunt her actively."

"Oh my!" Kasumi gasped. "Um... what are Heartless?" she then asked.

"They are the darkness in a living beings heart, given shape and form," Cait Sith explained grimly. "They have a thirst for hearts, but they fear the Keyblade. And that's why Akane is in grave danger."

"But if they all are as easy to beat as those weaklings earlier, I shouldn't have to worry, right?" Akane smirked.

Cait Sith frowned. "If you remember, their sheer number overwhelmed you, and without my help, I don't know if you would have been able to defeat them."

"Th-they took me by surprise," Akane defended herself. "Now that I know about them, I am prepared."

"The thing is, those were just Shadow Heartless, the most harmless form of a Pureblood Heartless," Cait Sith explained. "There are others, bigger and more dangerous than you could imagine. For example, the Darkside, huge Heartlesses with a heart-shaped hole in their stomach.

"Wait a minute!" Nabiki shouted. "That's the Angel we fought... but... no, that means it wasn't an Angel after all? But... the Magi identified it, so how...?"

"Oh my, then I suppose the dark creatures we fought were Heartless as well," Kasumi muttered.

"They were dangerous, all right!" Leormon nodded. "Especially those with the huge swords..."

"Invisibles," Cait Sith nodded. "If the most powerful Heartless show up by now, we have to be prepared for the worst."

"Still, I'd like to know something else first," Nabiki spoke up.

"And that would be?"

Nabiki glared at the little cat with the crown. "Where do you come from, why would you want to help Akane, and how could you know that she would receive the Keyblade today?"

"It was a mere speculation," Cait Sith tried to explain. "I am..."

He didn't continue his sentence, since a loud crash was making the walls shake at just that moment, and they all jumped to their feet in surprise.

"What in the world...?" Nabiki asked.

"Oh, my goodness..." Kasumi said. "I think that came from the dojo."

"The dojo?" Akane gasped. "Oh no, the Keyhole!"

Together, they all hurried over to the dojo. Ranma, who had heard the crash as well, had arrived before them. Right now, he was facing the person who was responsible for the loud crash, as well for the destruction of the dojo wall.

It was a Heartless, they all could see that. But unlike all the other Heartless they had seen before, this one didn't have a pure black body. It was a tall, green monster with root-like legs and vine-like arms that were waving around the air like whips. The creature's neck looked like a flower's stem, and it's scary face was in the middle of a huge rose blossom with black petals. On the Heartless' chest, they could see some weird emblem, and underneath that emblem... a figure they all knew to well was entwined with the monster's vines, which wrapped themselves closely around her body, thereby allowing her to control the Heartless' actions directly.

"Kodachi!" Ranma shouted. "What... what happened? Did that monster capture you?"

"Fear not, my darling Ranma!" Kodachi said with a satisfied smile. "Today, I will free you from the clutches of the pig-tailed witch and the evil Tendos! This Heartless is my creation and my servant... and his first task will be... to kill Akane Tendo! Attack, my Black Rose!"

The plant-like Heartless let out a horrible screech and Akane raised her Keyblade nervously.

"Oh boy..." she grumbled. "This day just keeps getting better and better..."

Leormon let out a feral growl and leapt at the plant-like Heartless. The Black Rose simply lashed out with its vine-like arms and threw the lion Digimon against the wall. Leormon let out a yelp of pain and fell down to the ground.

"Oh no, Leormon!" Kasumi gasped.

Akane deflected an incoming vine with her Keyblade. "Nabiki, Kasumi, get out of here! It's too dangerous for you!"

"You heard him, sis!" Nabiki said and pulled her older sister after her. "Let's get a move on."

"But... but Leormon..." Kasumi stuttered.

"I'm... fine, Kasumi..." Leormon grumbled as he stood back up. "Just a little shaken..."

"Go with them," Ranma shouted while jumping over the Heartless' attacks. "Keep them safe in case more of them are around."

"Got it, Ranma!" Leormon nodded and ran after the two retreating girls.

"My Ranma-sama, why do you play hard to get?" Kodachi smiled. Her body was still embedded in the Black Rose's torso, entangled with vines. "You know you will be mine, sooner or later... why resist?"

"Because you're a creepy maniac, for once!" Ranma yelled and jumped up to pummel the creature's petal-surrounded face.

"That witch Akane Tendo has ensnare your heart, I see, but never fear... I shall save you, my love!" Kodachi shouted. The Black Rose held out several of its vines and they entwined with each other, forming an arm with a small flower on its tip. The Heartless then proceeded to fire explosive bursts of pollen from that flower.

Akane winced when one of those bursts hit her left arm and left a nasty burn. "This thing... it's stronger than the others. And it looks so different... is this really a Heartless?"

"No doubt about it," Cait Sith replied. While his guardian Moogle doll protected him from the pollen rain, the little black cat hide behind it, where he stayed out of Ranma's view. "But it is an Emblem Heartless, meaning a Heartless that did not formed naturally, but was created artificially. Not too many humans can create them... I wonder where she got hers."

"I can say for sure that Kodachi never had anything like that near her," Akane shouted while hacking off a few of the Black Rose's vines. "But can we discuss this later? I'm kinda busy here..."

"Insolent wench!" Kodachi grumbled. "How dare you hog my darling Ranma, Tendo? He is mine and mine alone!"

"Dream on, Kodachi!" Ranma and Akane yelled simultaneously. They looked at each other in surprise, then grinned and leapt away, just in time when another hail of explosive pollen came raining down on them.

"I will force you to love me if I have to, darling!" Kodachi shouted. Her face had turned into a mask of fury and rage. With a swift move, a second arm was formed, and the Black Rose held both of its arms in front of Kodachi's and its own body. A twinkle of light appeared on the flowers that tipped the arms, and afterwards, a shiny shield surrounded the whole creature. It was pale and see-through, but when Ranma tried to attack the Heartless once again, it felt to him as if he was punching a steel wall. Likewise, Akane's Keyblade bounced off its shiny surface.

"Hey, how did she do that?" Ranma asked.

"What the...?" Cait Sith gasped. "That shield... it's the Protect spell. Only few individuals know it... I know that inhabitants of your world can't possibly know it. It has never been used here before. So how did she learn it?"

"Maybe it came with the Heartless," Akane assumed. "Still, if you know that spell, what can we do against it?"

"You can do nothing but surrender, pitiful peasant!" Kodachi laughed. "Ohohohohohoh!"

"Don't listen to her," Cait Sith shouted. "Protect, as it name indicates, protects its user from any sort of physical attack... but not against magic. You have to cast spells on your own to break through her defenses."

"Do I look like a magician to you?" Akane asked impatiently. "I can't do any magic."

"That's not a problem... here, catch!" The little cat threw a small object at Akane, and she caught it with her left hand and stared at it. It was a small, spherical crystal with a tiny spark in it.

"What's that?" she wondered.

"It's a Fire Element," Cait Sith explained. "Combining it with your Keyblade will allow you to cast the Fire spell, something this plant monster should be weak against.

"All right... I'll give it a try..." Akane murmured and touched her weapon with the glowing orb. In a sudden flash, the orb disappeared... but Akane could somehow feel the magic flowing through the Keyblade.

"This is it..." she murmured. She then grinned, took her blade with both hands and aimed it at the Black Rose. "Hey, Kodachi! I have a little present for you!"

She felt her mind become one with the Keyblade, and she commanded the magical energies within her weapon to come forth in a sudden burst of fire. A small fireball came flying out of the Keyblade's tip, flew through the shiny shield and hit Kodachi's Heartless in the middle of its face.

Both the Black Rose and Kodachi yelled out in pain. "You... you meddlesome Tendo wench!" Kodachi hissed. "That HURT!" Before Akane or anyone else could react, two vines lashed out of the protective sphere and wrapped themselves around the new Keyblade Mistress.

"Hey!" Akane shouted and tried hacking at the vines. "Let go!"

Kodachi grinned. "And now, Akane Tendo... you will die!" And she aimed her Heartless' arm at Akane's face.

"Akane! NO!" Ranma yelled. "Damn, if I only could get through that shield... wait a minute!" He blinked, slapped his forehead and reached into his pocket. "I'm such an idiot..."

Raising his transformation pen high above his head, he shouted: "TERRA PLANET POWER... MAKE UP!"

Lights danced around Ranma's body while it was twirling through the air. A sudden shower of cold water, coming out of nowhere, made him assume his female form. Shards of diamonds appeared and danced around her shapely body, covering her torso and transforming into the classical Senshi fuku. Diamond shards also clung to her hips, hands and feet, creating a yellow-brownish skirt, short gloves and shoes with flat heels. Unlike the other Senshi, she didn't wear a tiara, but a golden headband that was adorned with a small diamond. In the end, Ranma's pigtail became undone, and her red hair flowed down her head freely.

Sailor Terra landed back on the ground and raised her fists. "Enough is enough, Kodachi... put my fiancee back on the ground, right NOW!"

Kodachi stopped her Heartless' movement. "R-ranma-sama?" she muttered. "Wh-what happened to you...?"

"Yeah, it's me!" the red-headed Senshi of Earth nodded. "I'm the same girl you always hated... just like your brother hated my male side and was after my girl side. I am also a Sailor Senshi, a defender of love and justice... and of my own fiancee!"

"F... fiancee?" Kodachi stuttered. Then a hateful glare appeared on her face. "YOU LIE!"

"CRYSTAL HAIL!" Terra shouted and fired a barrage of sharp diamond shards at the Black Rose's right arm. The Heartless screeched under the merciless assault, until finally, it got completely severed. It fell down and disappeared before it could hit the ground.

Kodachi clutched her right arm. "My... my arm..." she gasped. "I can't feel it anymore..."

Akane used that chance to break free from the vines. She jumped back down to the floor, next to her Senshi fiance.

"Thanks... but I would have freed me in a couple of seconds," Akane said.

Ranma grinned. "Suuure you would... anyways, let's finish this!"

Akane nodded. "Gladly." She raised her Keyblade and Ranma raised his hands.

"FIRE!"

"METEOR STORM!"

Akane shot fireball after fireball at the big Heartless, while Terra summoned chunks of solid rock that were circling around the creature... and then zoomed inwards, crashing into the Black Rose's main stem.

"Noooooo, Raaanmaaaaaaa!" Kodachi yelled while her body was shaken around in the same manner as her creature. "Why are you doing this to meeee...?"

And then, the Heartless started to disappear. The vines surrounding Kodachi's body vanished as well, and the crazy gymnast fell down with a groan. A gleaming heart of light appeared out of the defeated creature's body, slowly floated upwards, where it, too, vanished.

Akane lowered her Keyblade and sighed. "It's gone..."

Sailor Terra ran over to Kodachi's body and checked her pulse. "She's still alive," she said.

"And it looks she didn't have her heart stolen by the Heartless," Cait Sith explained. "Which means there's still a chance to save her..."

"At least she didn't get a chance to reach the Keyhole," Akane exclaimed, looking over to where she knew the heart of her home world to be.

"Akane... maybe you should seal the Keyhole," Cait Sith suggested.

Terra squeaked when she heard the cat's voice and saw him coming out from behind his puppet. "D-don't come any closer..."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful. Now, Akane..."

"Seal it?" Akane wondered.

Cait Sith nodded. "Yes, it will be safe against all the Heartless. No matter how hard they try, they will never be able to reach it. Just aim your Keyblade at it..."

Akane blinked. "If that's all it takes... I should have done this much sooner." She glared at him. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Look, I'm sorry, but there were so many things we had to talk about that I completely forgot, okay?"

Akane angrily frowned at him. But then, she just sighed and raised her Keyblade, aiming it at the floor.

Again, the Keyhole appeared, and a thin beam of light got projected out of the Keyblade's tip, hitting the Keyhole in the middle. A faint sound could be heard, as if somebody would turn a key. In another flash, the Keyhole vanished.

"So... and that means the Heartless will never return?" she asked.

"I didn't say that," Cait Sith said. "The Heartless are rarely intelligent, they solely act on instinct. They will still try to harm the world's heart, they just won't be able to do it. But I'm afraid they will continue to come, now that the walls surrounding this world have been shattered..."

"You still have a lot to explain," Akane grumbled.

"Hey, I hate to interrupt, but what do we do with Kodachi?" Ranma asked. "I mean, we could call the police, but what are we supposed to tell them? That she controlled a huge plant monster who wanted to eat the heart of our world?"

Akane wanted to reply, but before she opened her mouth, something happened: A dark cloud of shadows appeared behind Ranma and Kodachi's body, forming something resembling a portal... and then, a woman stepped out.

It was a beautiful blonde, wearing some sort of medieval armor, which only covered her torso, leaving her arms and legs bare. A white cloak was waving behind her, and a strange headband was around her head. She was also wearing a pair of boots. A long sword was in her right hand.

The stranger pointed her sword at the unconscious Kodachi. "Give me the girl!" she said in a monotone voice.

"What? Where the heck did you come from?" Akane asked. "Who are you?"

"I am General Celes Chere," the woman said. "I am here on behalf of my master... now give me the girl!"

"Let's just see you take her!" Ranma grumbled and raised her fist.

"You have been warned..." the woman called Celes said and raised her hand. "BLIZZARA!"

A huge icicle came sprouting out of the ground. Sailor Terra gasped, jumped out of the way in time and growled. "That was a cheap trick!" She then ran at her mysterious attacker. "DIAMOND FIST!"

Sharp knuckles made of diamond shards appeared on her glove as she pulled back her right fist to hit the woman hard.

Celes stepped aside, dodged the attack and swung around her sword...

Terra cried out when the weapon tore open her fuku and left a bloody trail on her back. She stumbled to the ground, tried to get back up immediately, but failed miserably.

"Ranma!" Akane shouted and ran at her fiance's side.

"I've warned him..." Celes said coldly. She calmly walked up to Kodachi's body, looked down at it for a moment and picked it up. She then looked over to where Cait Sith was standing.

'It can't be...' the little cat thought nervously. 'Her?' His gaze then wandered to the strange band around her head. 'Is that... a slave crown?'

Celes gave him a hostile glare, then another portal of darkness appeared next to her.

"Stop! I won't let you escape!" Akane shouted and shot another fireball at the female warrior.

But before it could hit her, she stepped through the portal and disappeared, along with the portal itself... and with Kodachi.

Akane cursed. "Damn, she got away!" She then knelt down next to her fiance. "Ranma... hold on! I'll get some help..."

"Aw, it's nuthin'..." Terra grimaced. "Just a scratch... I've had worse!"

Cait Sith walked up to them. "Maybe I can be of help..."

Akane turned around. "Are you nuts? Ranma's badly injured! Do you want him to run around in fear from you in that state?"

"Not when I can heal him," the two-legged cat insisted. He walked past the astonished Akane and raised his hand. Ranma's eyes widened when he saw him standing so close to her.

"C-c-c-caaaaatt..."

Cait Sith put his hand down on the wound and spoke a single word: "CURAGA!"

A green glow surrounded his hand, as well as Ranma's body. Within seconds, the gaping wound on the Senshi's body disappeared. At the same time, a soothing feeling spread through Ranma's body.

Cait Sith stepped back. "Now, stand up!"

Sailor Terra slowly reached back to feel her backside. She then slowly got up to her feet. "This is amazing..." she murmured. "I feel... perfectly fine." She then looked down at Cait Sith. "And I'm not even afraid from you anymore. How come?"

"Curaga is the most powerful version of the spell Cure," Cait Sith explained. "It can heal physical wounds and mental distress, therefore eliminating your fear towards me."

A big grin appeared on Ranma's face. "Does that mean... I'm not afraid of cats anymore?"

"No... you just aren't afraid of me anymore."

"Oh, dang..." Ranma groaned.

Akane looked down at the little animal. "I still don't know where you came from and what you are, but... you saved Ranma. Um, what I mean to say is... if you say you are here to help, I believe you."

Cait Sith smiled.


	4. Dive into the Soul

"I guess it's time for me to spill the beans," Cait Sith sighed when they all were back in the living room. For now, they decided to leave the dojo as it is: They could still call some carpenters to fix the damage, and they Keyhole was safe, now that Akane sealed it.

"We're all ears," Nabiki said. "Why is it that you decided to help my little sister...? I doubt it's just mere generosity..."

"Nabiki, don't be so rude to our guest," Kasumi scolded her.

"No, she's right," the cat said. "There's a reason for why I am here... there's a reason for everything."

"Sounds like something Luna would say," Ranma spoke up. She had dropped her Senshi magic, but for now, was still in her female form.

"Well, first of all, let me tell you that I am a resident of a world far, far away from here..."

"Again with this 'other worlds' stuff," Akane muttered. "How does that work anyway? Do you mean you're from another planet?"

"Not quite like that," Cait Sith said. "Your world is just one of many, floating through an endless void known as 'Interspace'. Normally, those worlds would know nothing about the existence of others, but..."

"The Heartless, right?" Nabiki asked. "You already told us."

"Yes, that's right!" Cait Sith nodded. "The appearance of the Heartless shattered the barriers that separated the worlds from each other and made Gummi Ship travel possible.

"Gummi... what?" Leormon asked in confusion.

"A Gummi Ship is a vessel made of Gummi Blocks. They are made of a very special material that allows the Gummi Ship to travel between worlds. Some say Gummi Blocks are the remnants of the walls that once separated the worlds, but no one can say for sure..."

"So, to make it short, you came in such a Gummi Ship?" Ranma asked.

Cait Sith shook his head. "No, I came here by myself." He grinned over to the giant, stuffed doll he had been riding on earlier. "My little Moogle over there is filled with Gummi Blocks, actually. It allows him to travel between worlds, just like a Gummi Ship."

"And you wouldn't need a cockpit or anything like that?" Akane wondered.

"Interspace is not outer space, Akane," Cait Sith explained. "A cockpit would only be necessary by a bigger Gummi Ship... but only because of its velocity. It's similar to why you'd need a cockpit on a jet fighter."

"Okay, I guess I understand," Akane nodded. "But that still doesn't explain why you're here."

"Well... my world is one of many that was under attack from the Heartless. It was also one of the first that learned about other worlds and the nature of Gummi Blocks. See, there have been legends about your keyblade, Akane... They say that anyone who wields it is a warrior chosen by fate who is destined to fight the forces of evil and protect the keyholes of the worlds... See, we always have been a bit curious about why those two worlds were put in plural. But now, since we know how many other worlds exist..."

"And you just took that legend as a reason to find this warrior of legend, so that he can help you fight the Heartless?" Akane asked skeptically.

"I'm not finished. See, there was this man who did a lot of research in regards of the Keyblade... we always called him 'The Scholar'... and shortly after the first Gummi Ships returned with tales from other worlds, he found out that they keyblade actually exists. He then prepared a huge expedition, using the biggest Gummi Ship created on our world, and tried to find it. But... he never returned. All of this happened several years ago."

"I think I get it," Ranma said. "You're trying to finish that guy's job and find the Keyblade yourself, right?"

"Close, Ranma, but not quite correct. See... the Scholar left all of his records and diaries about his research results behind in his study, so we could make use of it. I, along with several friends of mine, never imagined that we would ever leave our world... we didn't quite think world travel was a wise thing to do. But when the Heartless appeared, everything changed..."

He took a deep breath. "They were being lead by an unknown, mysterious stranger whose body was covered with a black cloak. He didn't say much, but it became soon evident what he was looking for, since he commanded all of his Heartless to enter the Scholar's study. It was obvious that he didn't find what he was looking for, because shortly afterwards, he commanded the Heartless to capture every single resident of our town and throw them into a dark jail.

I can still hear his distorted voice coming out from under that hood..." Cait Sith shivered. "He told us: 'If you want to live, you will tell me where to find the man who wrote these...' and then, he threw the Scholar's diaries to our feet.

We tried to explain to him that he had left on a long journey, but he didn't want to believe us at first. Only after he tortured many of the citizens, he believed that we told him the truth. Some of my best friends died that day..." The small cat closed his eyes.

Kasumi petted his head like she would do with a normal housecat. "Oh, you poor thing... that must have been horrible."

Cait Sith sighed. "Anyways... we all realized that there was just one thing we could do. One of us had to go and find the only one who could fight these Heartless... the Keyblade Master! We staged a jailbreak, and along with a few friends, I managed to reach the Gummi Ship hangar, which was my old working place. The only vessel that was obtainable was this moogle doll I created myself. Knowing that they couldn't come with me, my friends gave me a few of the Scholar's reports about Interspace travel and the route he had planned to take with his own ship. That was the last time I saw any of them..."

He sighed again. "I visited world after world after world, always following the trail the Scholar had left behind, until one day, I found your world... and here, finally, I found you!"

Everyone was silent for a moment.

"Let me get this straight..." Akane then spoke up. "You want me to come along with you, to help you fight these Heartless and free your world just because some stranger gave this fancy little weapon to my mother?"

"While I don't really know the details, I know from the Scholar's reports that the Keyblade chooses its wielder. And there could be only one... it was not just a coincidence that it found its way here. Maybe that stranger who gave the Keyblade to your mother was even the Scholar..."

"I don't care!" Akane snapped. "I'm happy to help those in need, but... leaving my home world behind and risk my life for people I've never seen in my life? Against an enemy I know nothing about? Not to mention that I'm still a newbie with this thing..."

"Besides, Akane would miss school if she'd leave now," Kasumi added.

"And here I thought that ditching school would be reason enough for Akane to do it," Nabiki grinned.

"Say, how long would it take to reach your home world, anyways?" Ranma asked.

"Possibly several days, if not weeks," Cait Sith said. "I don't really have a map of Interspace, and on my way here, I was pretty much only stumbling around blindly..."

"So you don't even know which way I would have to take," Akane groaned. "Great... Besides, I doubt I could cling onto your little doll without falling off."

"That's not the problem," Cait Sith told her. "I brought a big supply of Gummi Blocks along from home... we could apply them to your sister's big mech unit and..."

"Whoa, whoa, hold on there!" Nabiki shouted. "That Eva is government property, and I can't just attach any unknown parts to it without clearing it up with my bosses..."

"We don't have time to explain it to them," Cait Sith insisted. "And it's not like it would be damaged or anything... Gummi Blocks can attach to any surface, without the use of any tools."

"I'm still not going," Akane said. "I saw what that crazy woman did to Kodachi... do you really think I would risk being dragged away like that? Besides, if I don't stay behind, who's gonna protect my world from the Heartless?"

Cait Sith looked down. "I see..." he muttered. "If that's your final decision, it looks like it can't be helped... you were our last hope..."

Kasumi frowned at Akane when she saw how desperate the little cat was.

Akane sighed. "Listen, I'm really sorry... but would you want me to risk my life for people I never knew?"

"Akane... I risked my life several times for the residents of the Digital World," Kasumi said in a quiet, but very stern voice. Akane had never heard her oldest sister talk like that. "And I never asked for anything in return. I just wanted to help them, because there was nobody besides me and my friends..."

"Same here, sis," Nabiki nodded. "I could have turned down the offer from NERV to become one of the Evangelion pilots... but I accepted, not just because Mom wished it. I wanted to help and protect Earth against the Angels."

"And what do you think I said after finding out I had to be a Senshi?" Ranma asked. "At first, I had none of my former self's memories, so I had no reason to help Usagi and the others. Having to stay in my girl form during all the fights and having to dress up in a fuku and skirt? Yeah right, as if Ranma Saotome, man amongst men, would ever do that... but as soon as I realized how important our battles were, I learned to accept my change and fought alongside my fellow Senshi willingly."

"You always wanted to be like us, Akane," Kasumi said. "To be a hero... now is your chance. Those abilities, weapons and..." She smiled down at Leormon. "Helpers we've been given aren't just tools... they are gifts. And I think we all should do our best to appreciate these gifts by accepting the roles they entail."

"But, Kasumi..." Akane murmured. "I may never come back home... what would Dad say? What would Mom say, if she was still around...?"

Nabiki smirked. "I'd say she would want you to go for it!"

"I... can see this is all very confusing for you," Cait Sith spoke up again. "Maybe we should all sleep over it, and tomorrow, you can tell me your final decision."

"I guess so..." Akane muttered. She stood up and left the room. "Please excuse me..."

The others looked after her as she walked upstairs, to her room.

"Looks like she has many things to think about," Leormon commented.

"Yes... I wonder if I was too harsh," Kasumi sighed.

"Don't worry about it, Kasumi," Ranma told her. "Akane's a tough girl, and in the end, she'll do what she thinks is best. It took me some time to accept this silly fuku as well."

"I guess so," Kasumi nodded. "Oh well, I guess I prepare a futon for our guest..." She stood up and left the room as well.

"Um... Cait Sith?" Ranma then asked. She still thought it was weird that she could now speak with a talking cat without freaking out. Now if only there was a way to do the same for when she talked to Luna and Artemis...

"Yes?" Cait Sith looked up at her.

"Say, I wondered... that girl who took Kodachi away... for a while, it seemed to me like you knew her. Is that true?"

Cait Sith stayed silent for a moment. "It is true," he finally said. "She lived in my home town, you know? And now... it looks like she's working for that evil man..."

"A traitor, you mean?" Nabiki asked.

"No..." Cait Sith shook his head. "She is one of my friends..."

Ranma frowned. "Do all of your friends attack innocent people and kidnap them?"

"I'd hardly call Kodachi an 'innocent'..." Nabiki muttered.

"Did you see that headband she wore? We used to call it a 'Slave Crown'. The cloaked man who attacked us used it to make innocent people do his bidding. Once they put it on, they lose their free will... and become slaves."

"So that chick wasn't really a bad person?" Ranma wondered.

"No," Cait Sith replied. "Celes Chere is one of the most courageous and sincere person I know... and back on my home world, nobody was as skilled with the sword as she was. It pains me to see her like this..."

"So... you think there are others he has enslaved like this?" Ranma asked.

"I don't know, Ranma," Cait Sith said. "I honestly don't know..."

* * *

Akane looked around.

"Where am I?" she whispered. "The last thing I remember is going to bed..."

She was standing on a big, circular platform, which was the top of a tall pillar that was rising out of nowhere. All around her, it was dark. There was no sky, no horizon, not even stars. Just darkness. The light coming from the pillar she stood on was the only source of light.

A strange image was on the floor. It resembled a person she knew all too well... it was Ranma, in his girl form, dressed in his Senshi fuku. The redhead was striking a surprisingly feminine pose that Akane knew she would never put up willingly. She also was surrounded by a few, circular pictures on which she could see the silhouettes of other girls in similar fukus... the Sailor Senshi?

"What is this?" Akane wondered. "Where am I? This is too weird..."

Just then, she heard a mysterious voice coming out of nowhere...

'Don't be afraid... This is only the beginning... You may believe you know everything... But that is a mere illusion... the truth is yet to come.'

"Hello?" Akane shouted. "Who's there? What are you trying to pull?"

'Your inner strength...' the voice continued. 'Give it form... but what will you choose?'

And out of nowhere, three pedestals appeared on the platform. On them, three different objects were placed. Akane recognized a wand that looked similar to a Senshi's transformation pen, a strange, translucent shield with the letters 'AT' on it... and a wooden mallet.

She sweatdropped. "Even I know what this is supposed to represent. The Senshi pen... Magic! The AT field... Defense! My mallet..." She scratched her head. "Attack power? I don't get it... is this supposed to be some sort of test?"

The mysterious voice did not respond, no matter how long Akane waited. She sighed. "Okay, I get it, I have to choose myself... but what will the results be? Will the wand turn me into a Senshi or what?"

She imagined what the AT field would do to her. She knew from Nabiki that the Angels had one and shivered at the thought of transmutating into an Angel.

"I guess I can't be wrong with the good old mallet..." she murmured and reached for the hammer's handle...

She closed her eyes, expecting something surprising to happen, but that was not the case. She was still standing on the same pillar. She shrugged. What did she expect?

'The power of the warrior,' the voice said. 'Invincible courage... a weapon of terrible destruction.'

Akane frowned. "It's not thaaat terrible, all I did was punting a few people through the air..."

'Now, what will you give up in exchange?'

The only items left were the wand and the AT shield. Akane pondered it for a while. "Well, I know for one thing that everything that has to do with Angels creeps me out, so I'm gonna choose the shield this time."

As soon as she spoke those words, the voice asked her: 'The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all. You give up this power?'

"I already said that, didn't I?" Akane asked, a bit impatiently.

Just then, the pedestals disappeared, along with the items. The whole pillar started to crumble and break away, and a surprised Akane fell down into the darkness... just to land on another pillar.

She groaned and shook her head. "I didn't need that... huh?" She looked down and saw another picture. This time, she saw something even stranger than before. It was her sister, Kasumi... but she almost didn't recognize her. Kasumi had legs that were very animal-like and nearly looked like the hind legs of some beast, even though she was walking upright. Her whole body was covered with yellow fur that reminded her of Leormon. The hair on her head was still in the usual, elegant bow, but it was much more fuzzier than before and resembled a mane. Kasumi also wore Leormon's collar around her neck, along with a top and a pair of shorts, which both looked like they were made of sturdy leather.

"Oneechan, whoever drew this picture of yours has one sick fantasy..." she grumbled.

Just like with Ranma's picture, she saw the silhouettes of other people - or was it creatures - on the sides. Similar to her sister, they resembled a mixture of animals and humans. Were those the other Digidestined, mixed with attributes of their Digimon partners?

'You gained the power to fight.'

Before Akane could utter a surprised gasp, the mallet reappeared in her hand. It was just like her old mallet, but when she held it, it felt similar to her Keyblade...

'There will be times you have to fight. Keep your light burning strong,' the voice went on.

"I get it already!" Akane snapped. "Can we now get to the point where I wake up?"

Instead of an answer, something else appeared... it was a strange figure, which appeared in a cloud of sparkling dust. It looked female in appearance, but at the same time, strangely ghost-like and incorporeal. It hovered across the ground, waved around its claw-like appendages and opened its cute mouth as if it wanted to plead for help.

"What... is that thing?" Akane gasped. "It isn't a Heartless, is it?"

The pale blue creature raised its arms and seemed to give her a sad smile... then it hovered towards her and attacked!

"Gah!" Akane shouted and sidestepped the sudden claw slash. "Okay, if that's how you wanna play, fine with me!" She swung around her mallet and knocked the strange creature away from her.

The being stopped in mid-air and turned back around. Its face looked like that of an innocent girl... placed upon that ghastly, monstrous spirit form.

"Still haven't had enough?" Akane asked.

But then, she heard another voice in her head... it wasn't the mysterious voice that had instructed her earlier, it sounded like the whisper of a soul in sorrow...

'Soulmates, a new sister has arrived!'

Akane shook her head dizzily. "Will you all just get out of my head already? Damn, for a dream, all of this sure is messed up..."

And then, other figures like the first appeared, all of them identical in appearance, except for their faces. They were all the faces of young, innocent-seeming girls, but each one was different.

"So you called your friends, is that it?" Akane asked. "Well, I have an information for you: I am not one of your 'Soulmates' and certainly don't plan on becoming your friend, so buzz off already!"

The strange creatures that called themselves 'Soulmates' just giggled and flew at her. She had to dodge several claw strikes before one of them hit its mark and grazed her shoulder. She cried out in pain and nearly dropped her mallet.

"All right, enough is enough... leave me alone, you creeps!" She swung around her mallet and smacked every single one of the Soulmates away from her. And whenever they landed on the ground, their bodies dissolved into the same, sparkling dust she had seen earlier.

In the end, only the first creature that had appeared was left, and when she, too, disappeared, her smiling face was the last thing to turn into dust.

Akane panted hardly. "Just what the heck is going on here?" she shouted. "This isn't really a dream, is it?"

She waited for a reply, but none came. Instead, a strange door appeared in front of her, taller than a normal door, with two big handles on its two wings.

"You want me to go in there?" Akane asked. "Well, too bad! I'm not gonna move one more inch before you don't tell me what's going on. Nu-uh! Forget it!"

She crossed her arms and turned her back to the door. But even after a few seconds, she started to feel silly. The mysterious voice wouldn't answer her, no matter how long she waited. And the door really was the only way she could take.

"Fine..." she grumbled. "But this better lead me to a large buffet with a first-class meal, understood?"

She reached for the handles and opened the door.

She blinked. Nothing had happened, or was she seeing things?

But then she realized that she was still standing on a pillar, but it was yet again a different one. The door had vanished as well.

"Not again..." she groaned. "Fine, what do we have here...?"

Not too surprising, the image on this pillar showed her sister Nabiki. She was clad in a strange, futuristic costume that made her look like one of those Knight Sabers from that Anime, what was the name again, Bubblegum Crisis? But at least she could tell that she had never seen something like that in real life.

But then she noticed the similarities to the suit Nabiki was clad in and her Evangelion Unit. The head part wasn't as monstrous, as that was the part where Nabiki's face looked out of a sleek-looking helmet. But she had the Eva's gun in her right hand, and a knife in her left hand.

"Makes sense..." Akane muttered. "Kasumi looked like she has merged with Leormon on her picture, so Nabiki logically has merged with her Eva... but that still doesn't make any sense..."

She took a closer look. "I should have known... those other guys up there are probably her fellow pilots Shinji, Asuka and Rei, in suit that look like their own Evas... But what does it all mean?"

As if it wanted to reply to her question, the mysterious voice spoke up yet again:

'The more you search for answers in your soul, the further your soul heads away from what it once was...'

Akane blinked. What was that supposed to mean?

She gasped, when all of a sudden, the same glittering dust the Soulmates had turned into reappeared and hovered through the darkness as one single cloud... and it flew right through her.

Akane gasped when she felt how SOMETHING within her was touched... and then the dust was past her and hovered in the middle of the platform.

The cloud began to grow in size, and at the same time, seemed to solidify... until, in the end, a new creature stood in front of Akane.

The all-new Keyblade Warrior gasped when she looked up at the towering form of the monster. It looked scary and translucent, just like the Soulmates, but... there were strangely twisted forms in the middle of the misty main body, and it had a total of four long arms that ended in wicked claws. Unlike the Soulmates, it also had a pair of stilt-like legs that stepped down on the surface of the pillar. And its face...

"What... what is this?" Akane shouted. "That face... that can't be... mine?"

But it was true. Staring back at her from the twisted body was her own face. It may be pale blue and surrounded by a shimmering mist, but it was unmistakably her own face.

All of a sudden, Akane turned angry. "So you want to look like me? Fine! But I'm gonna show you that I am me, and nobody else will be like me. I have my body, and I have my soul... and whatever strange Heartless or Soulmate or whatever you call yourself are, I won't let you take away my heart either!"

Just then, the huge creature with her own face stepped forward on its spindly legs and smashed its giant, clawed hand down on the floor. Akane jumped up in time and used that moment to run up the arm, which was much broader than the creature's legs.

With a loud yell, she jumped up and twirled her weapon around. And in a flash of light, the mallet transformed into her Keyblade... and the weapon once again was part of her body.

She aimed at the creature's face which seemed to mock her by giving her a sly smirk... and then, she slashed right through it, leaving a red, glowing scar on the face.

Akane landed back on the ground and turned around. Several cracks had appeared around the gaping scar, and then, her mirror image cracker apart as if it was a true mirror... and underneath, she could see a strange symbol. It was a pale blue swirl, resembling a vortex, or a twister... but no matter what it was, it only added to the creepiness the creature emitted.

Akane pointed her Keyblade at the monster's head. "Stay out of my dreams! FIRE!"

The bright fireball flew out of her weapon's tip and flew into the middle of the weird emblem. The whole monster staggered backwards and finally stumbled down to the ground... where it dissolved into the same dust as the Soulmates.

Akane grimaced when her legs got covered with the dust. More and more dust appeared and threatened to swallow her whole.

Akane struggled and flailed around with her arms, legs and the Keyblade. "S-stay away from me!" she yelled. "Get off me... get off... GET OFF!"

Suddenly, she couldn't see anything at all.

'And don't forget...' the mysterious voice called out to her one last time.

'You hold the mightiest weapon of all.'


	5. I am the Black Mage!

Author's Note:

Black Mage belongs to the creator of 8-bit Theater (at least this version of Black Mage).

* * *

Twilight Town... a town at the edge between light and darkness. Birth place of Nobodies and that town that will witness important events of destiny... although most of the inhabitants are unaware of this.

In a secluded back alley (which would later on become the meeting place of three good friends), a blonde woman stepped through a portal of darkness. She was beautiful... if you don't look into her eyes. Those were empty and cold, like all of those who wear the Slave Crown.

Across her shoulder, she carried a limp bundle... actually an unconscious body that was wrapped with a blanket, so curious eyes wouldn't stare.

General Celes Chere was no native to this world, so everyone assumed she was just a stranger on a journey, or maybe a contestant for the upcoming Struggle contest. That would also explain her unusual attire.

Kodachi was still out cold, blissfully unaware of what was going on around her.

Celes didn't hesitate, left the back alley and followed a certain path along the narrow roads.

When she came across a big, squarish plaza, she walked past two figures that had one thing in common: Both wore tall, brimmed hats under which nothing of their face was visible, except for their round, yellow eyes.

"...and that, my boy, is why you should never hesitate when someone says something stupid. Just fry 'em with a good ol' Thunder... or maybe Fire spell, that doesn't matter. You're still a lil' shrimp... but if you hang around the right guys..."

"S-so you c-could teach me all those spells?" the young boy called Vivi asked hopefully.

The older mage gave him a grin, even though it was difficult to make it out underneath that hat. "'Course I can. Stay with me, and I'm gonna teach you all there is to know about being an evil mastermind... um, I mean, a master magician!"

"Oh boy! I'm so excited!" Vivi gushed. "Can we start now?"

"Well... excuse me for a moment, kid..." Black Mage muttered as his eyes followed a certain swordswoman who was carrying a bundle over her shoulder.

Celes suddenly felt how someone was tapping her back. She turned around and saw a little man with a big hat.

Black Mage grinned. "Sorry to bother you, ma'am, but..."

Celes narrowed her eyes. "Who... are you?"

He made a small pause for effectiveness. Then he cleared his throat.

"I AM THE BLACK MAGE! I CASTS THE SPELLS THAT MAKES THE PEOPLES FALL DOWN!"

"Why are you bothering me?" Celes asked coldly. She knew she had no time to lose. She still had a mission to fulfil.

"Well, I was just wondering..." Black Mage tipped the brim of his hat. "Have you ever been on a pirate ship?

CUZ I'M SEEIN' YER BOOTY THERE, BABE!" he grinned and pointed his index fingers at her... quite coincidentally at her breasts.

Normally, the Slave Crown was created to subdue the victim's personal emotions and thought patterns, making the person a complete slave to those who had put the crown on his or her head... but what Celes did now wasn't really based on logic or common sense. It was an instinctive reaction, deeply rooted in every proud woman's brain.

"BLACK MAGE NO BAKA!"

WHAM!

Vivi looked after the woman for a while, unsure what to do. Then he ran over to where his teacher to-be was embedded in a house wall.

"Master Black Mage... are you all right?"

"I'm tellin' ya, kid, she totally digs me..." Black Mage groaned.

Vivi sweatdropped and considered if he should maybe find another role model. In the distance, he saw Seifer and his gang... Seifer was a strong fighter, and he and his friends always worked together to maintain order in this town.

"Sorry, I have to go," he said and ran after the small group. "Seifer, wait a minute..."

For some time, nothing happened.

"Um, is there a White Mage in the audience?"

* * *

Celes entered the huge mansion. It was a pretty new building, with thick rugs on the floor and expensive paintings on the walls. An impressive chandelier was hanging from the ceiling in the lobby. Most citizens of Twilight Town wondered who had commissioned this building. They all knew it had to be someone rich, and that the workers were finished over night. But nobody had ever seen the face of the proprietor.

Celes walked into the library. Just seconds later, she was in a completely white room, where a big table was standing. A dark coat was hanging from a hook at the wall.

A single person was sitting at that table.

Like Celes, that woman had gorgeous, blonde hair, which was piled up in an impressive hairdo. She was wearing a dark blue, elaborate, victorian-style dress with black frills.

She took a sip from the cup that was holding and put it down on the table. She then smiled at her visitor.

"Celes, you hae returned!"

"Yes, mistress!"

The woman stood up and walked around the table. "I take it this is her?"

"Yes, mistress!"

"Good. Put her on the table."

Celes obeyed and put the heavy bundle on the table, where she unwrapped Kodachi's body.

"Time to wake our sleeping beauty," the noblewoman grinned and made a waving gesture with her right hand.

Kodachi blinked. "Where... where am I?"

"You are in my house, sweetie! I am Countess Arlene, and this is my servant, Celes... may I ask for your name?"

Kodachi sat up in surprise. This woman was also a member of nobility, therefore a kindred spirit. "I am Kodachi Kuno of the noble house of Kuno in Nerima," she said with a bow.

"Nerima?" the countess wondered. "Where is that?"

"In Tokyo, Lady Arlene! Japan."

"I see..." The countess had never heard of that town or country before, but she didn't ask any further. "Do you remember what happened, dear?"

Kodachi frowned. "I... I recall fighting the accursed wench Akane Tendo..." She growled. "She wanted to keep my Ranma-sama for herself!"

"Oh! I take it this 'Ranma' is your fiance, then?"

"We are meant to be..." Kodachi gushed dreamily.

Countess Arlene grinned. 'A lovesick fool... those people are easy to control.'

But suddenly, a confused expression appeared on Kodachi's face. "But... I also recall my darling Ranma... and he changed... into that red-haired harlot!" She clutched her head. "Can it be? Can they really be one and the same person? But she used those dark magics against me... maybe she confused my mind... and then, there was this demonic cat..."

Raising an eyebrow, the countess looked at Celes, who gave her a slight nod.

"You poor, confused girl..." she then said. "But don't be afraid, I will help you. Please, feel free to stay in my manor for as long as you wish."

"Thank you, my lady! Say... where are we, anyway?"

"Why, this is Twilight Town," Arlene smiled. "Never heard of it?"

"No... I can't say I have..."

"Well, that doesn't matter. Perhaps, if you are feeling better, I could show you around town. But for now, you should sleep."

"But I am not tired," Kodachi protested.

"Yes, you are!" the countess said and raised her hand. "Sleep."

With a soft groan, Kodachi closed her eyes again and fell back into Celes' arms.

"She will do just fine, Celes!" Arlene smiled. "Take her downstairs... after I provided her with a little crown of her own, she will be much easier to control."

"Yes, mistress!" Celes said, picked up Kodachi's body and carried her out of the room.

Countess Arlene sat back down on her chair. "That will teach that hag Maleficent to meddle in my affairs," she said to herself. "And my beloved brother wouldn't want her to become too powerful, either. Now there's only one thing left to do..."

She took another sip of tea, then she smiled wickedly.

"My dear Cait Sith... you have been elusive for far too long. From now on, you'll be mine..."

* * *

Akane blinked and woke up. She groaned as she sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Man, what a messed up dream..." she grumbled. "A monster with my face? A mallet that turns into a keyblade? I really should have dinner before going to bed..."

After getting dressed, she wanted to go down for breakfast. Then she stopped herself. Holding out her hand, she concentrated on the Keyblade, and her weapon appeared in her hand.

"What is it with you?" she mumbled while closer inspecting the finely crafted weapon. "What is it you see in me? Why didn't you choose one of my sisters, or Ranma? Is it because they already have a destiny to fulfil?" She chuckled when she caught herself thinking about destiny, the very same way she had never understood when hearing it from Kasumi or Ranma.

"I don't have to do this," she told herself. "It's my own choice..."

Cait Sith had talked as if it was her destiny to wield the Keyblade, to fight the Heartless and protect the hearts of the worlds. She hadn't believed it at first... but now, all she could think about was going on an adventure that brought her to new worlds even Kasumi and Ranma had not ever heard about before. According to Cait Sith, they normally were even more unreachable than the ruined remains of the Silver Millennium, up on the moon, or the Digital World, which is only accessible for Digidestined and Digimon.

She was curious, and proud. She always envied her sisters and fiance that they could be heroes... well, here was her own chance. All she had to do was to seize it.

"Who am I kidding?" Akane grumbled. "Destiny or not, I definitely would turn crazy from curiosity if I stayed behind. "Heck, I'll do it, crazy dream or not!"

She raised her Keyblade and smiled. "You're gonna help me against those Heartless, am I right? You chose me, after all, so you wouldn't want your carrier to go to waste."

She chuckled to herself. Here she was, talking to a weapon as if it would understand everything she said...

She willed the Keyblade away and went downstairs, where she found Kasumi and Ranma sitting at the breakfast table. Leormon was sitting close to Kasumi, eating his Digi-Munchies from a bowl... a delicious treat for Digimon Kasumi had created herself.

"Morning, Akane," Ranma muttered, never stopping eating.

"Good morning," Kasumi smiled. "Did you sleep well?"

"Well, I had a strange dream..." Akane muttered while she came to sit down at the table, making sure not to step on Leormon's tail this time.

"Where are Nabiki and Cait Sith?" Akane asked.

"Oh, Nabiki is in the Evangelion hangar," Kasumi said. "She said she wanted to try out those Gummi Blocks Cait Sith had talked about."

"That means she's actually let us use the Eva?" Ranma asked while gulping down the rest of his breakfast. "Who would have thought it?"

"I guess it's mainly because she's curious," Kasumi said. "As we all are. Unknown worlds out of our reach, suddenly accessible through the use of strange blocks... I haven't been this excited since I've been in the Digital World for the first time."

"So you decided?" Leormon looked up from his bowl. "We're gonna go?"

"I would never let my little sister leave by herself," Kasumi smiled. "I'm sure Tai and the others will understand."

"I already talked to Ami this morning," Ranma spoke up. "She has scanned the Heartless we fought and found out that they really are made of hearts, hearts that somebody lost to the darkness. I told her that we were going to find out where they came from, and that I'd have to leave for some time... she didn't ask any further questions and said that she'd tell Usagi and the others. I guess it's good to know that they trust me with this..."

"You really want to come along?" Akane asked. "You are serious about this?"

"Hey, I'm not gonna let you go by yourself to fight a bunch of creeps we barely know anything about. After all, they are a threat to Earth, and since I'm the princess of the Earth, it's my duty to make sure they stay away, right?"

Akane couldn't help but grin. Before becoming a Senshi, Ranma would have rather died than saying words like this. It's funny how something like destiny could change people...

"So, where's Cait Sith?" she asked.

* * *

Cait Sith was leaning against his moogle doll, which was still standing in one corner of the dojo. He breathed heavily... even though he knew that he didn't really have any lungs to speak of.

"I made it just in time..." he murmured. "Now isn't that irony...? Celes always told me I'd never find the Keyblade master in time before this body's energy would run out, and here I am..."

He closed his eyes. "I can really count myself lucky that nobody was able to find my real body on the control console... it was a good idea to keep the control room a secret even from my friends. The Slave Crowns would have forced them to tell everything to the cloaked man, and I'd never have a chance."

He forced himself to stand up. With wobbly limbs, he climbed up on his trusty moogle companion. "C'mon, old buddy... we should at least thank Akane, no matter what her answer is going to be. If anything, this at least proved to me that the Keyblade Master exists... which means hope is not lost for my people."

He slumped down on the broad shoulders of the moogle, while the stuffed pet waddled out of the room.

When she saw Cait Sith entering the room, Kasumi let out a gasp of surprise. "Oh my! What happened to you?"

"My... my power is running out..." Cait Sith murmured. "I never told you, but... this body is actually a robot, controlled by my true self from a secret control room. The power cells were supposed to last a very long time, but the journey through interspace took too much power out of me... and now I don't have much time left. Akane... have you make up your mind?"

"Yes, I have," she nodded. "I'm going to help your people."

A smile appeared on the robotic cat's face. "That's good to hear... hopefully we'll meet once you get there... if they don't find me first, that is. In that case, we still might meet... only that I'd wear a Slave Crown that time around..."

"Don't say that!" Ranma shouted. "Hang on there, we'll find the way to your world soon enough."

"I know you will..." Cait Sith murmured. "You are all... chosen... ones..."

"Cait Sith?" Akane asked in an alarmed voice when his voice grew weaker and weaker.

"My... power has almost run out... I'm sorry I couldn't help you... find my world... but listen... if you ever reach a world called Traverse Town... then try to find a man called Leon... he'll be on your side..."

He let out a groan that sounded half-mechanical, and his head slowly tilted to the side. "Goooooood luuuuuuuuck myyyyyyy frieeeeeennnndss..." he managed to utter, before his voice died down and his body slumped over like a lifeless doll... which it now was.

"Good luck to yourself, Neko-san..." Kasumi whispered while picking the cat doll up and holding it in her arms. "Whoever you are in real life, we know that hidden within this plushy frame, there was a good-natured soul..."

"Hang on there, buddy," Ranma muttered. "We'll be there soon."

Akane just closed her eyes and sighed.

* * *

"You know what, Mom?" Nabiki muttered. "This stuff is really something else... I bet you'd have given anything to have blocks like this back when you constructed the first Evas, huh?"

The huge Evangelion Unit did not respond. Nabiki smirked and put another, orange-colored block on the metal leg, next to the others. Just like the others did, it stuck to the surface smoothly and remained in place firmly.

Nabiki gave the layer of Gummi Blocks a solid punch. They still felt like rubber, but they were pretty resistant, and nothing would make them budge.

Satisfied, the Evangelion mechanic in-training smirked. "I wouldn't even need Akagi-sensei's teachings to put these things in place," she said. "Now all we have to hope is that those things actually do what they are supposed to do..."

She had also fastened a few of the gun-shaped Gummi Blocks to the Eva's arms, as well as a cockpit-shaped Gummi to the front side.

"I was already wondering how he wanted everyone to fit into my Eva," Nabiki muttered. "My own cockpit is cramped enough as it is, with me inside... but with this thing, everyone will be able to come along."

She then sighed and leaned back against the soft layer of Gummis on her Eva's left leg. "Say, Mom... am I doing the right thing? I know Commander Ikari and Akagi-sensei would never agree... which means they would also never allow me to take you along. Therefore, I'll have to steal government property to help Akane on her own quest... I know you never wanted us to become criminals, and you always were mad at me when you found out about my bribes, blackmail and so far... but then again, you wanted Akane to have the Keyblade, didn't you? So what is it you want me to do? Stay at home like a good girl... and prevent Akane from ever reaching those other worlds? Or go with them... and steal something that never belonged to me in the first place?"

Unit 04 let out a soft growl.

Nabiki smiled. "Yeah, I thought so... do what you feel is right, gotcha! But, Mom... what about you? We're gonna use you to travel between worlds... and maybe many of these Heartless will attack you. We never asked you for your own opinion... do you even want to come along?"

Unit 04 let out a short series of grunts, which could be interpreted as laughter.

Nabiki snickered. "No, I doubt they're gonna be worse than any Angel we've encountered... but listen, there's one other thing. I feel... kinda bad that we have to leave everything here on earth to Shinji and the girls. Do you... do you think the kids are going to be fine?"

Another growl, this time a bit deeper.

The middle Tendo sister sighed. "Maybe they are stronger than they seem, but... honestly, Shinji is an insecure boy who has to work under a father he hates, Asuka is an egomaniac who never likes to work with others, and Rei never allows anyone to see her feelings... I know I'm not exactly Wonder Woman myself, but do you honestly believe that those three are going to save Earth?"

She listened to her mother's next word, before nodding. "All right... if you say so, I will trust them. But, I still don't like it to leave them behind..."

And then she went back to work on her new project 'Gummi Eva'.

* * *

At lunch, Nabiki was finished and went back up to her sisters and Ranma. They told her about what happened with Cait Sith, and Akane also told the others of her unusual dream.

"So, the question is... are you really, really sure about this, Akane?" Nabiki asked. "Once we leave, there's no turning back. Last chance to back out... do you still wanna try to find Cait Sith's home world? For all we know, it could take us weeks, maybe even months..."

"I will," Akane said. "I promised him to do this, and I won't let him down. I already asked Ranma and Kasumi, and they told me they would come along... so all I'm asking is: Are you certain about this as well, Nabiki?"

"Well, yeah, it took me some time to really come to a conclusion, but since you need me to get out there, I don't really have a choice, do I?" She smirked. "And if any Heartless out there wants to have a piece of my little sister, they will have to go past me first... me and my Eva Unit, that is."

Akane smiled. "Thanks, Nabiki... and thanks to you as well, Kasumi, Ranma! I know I've never done anything like this before, but..." She summoned her Keyblade. "When you all started your own adventures, you had to learn a lot as well, right? And now that I know you want to come with me, I'm ready to learn everything I need to know."

"Shouldn't we wait for father and Uncle Saotome to return?" Kasumi asked. "And tell them what we are about to do?"

Leormon huffed. "Knowing those two buffoons, they stay away until they know it's safe to come back..."

"Leormon, it's not nice to speak of our fathers like that," Kasumi scolded her partner.

"What I would like to know is, do we even have enough food for such a long journey?" Ranma asked.

"How typical, all you can think about is food," Akane grumbled.

"Hey, a guy has to eat," Ranma defended himself. "I'm just saying, it's probably gonna be a long journey..."

"A journey? Where are you guys going?"

Ranma turned around in surprise. "U-ucchan? Wh-where did you come from?"

The Okonomiyaki chef gestured over her shoulder. "The dojo was open. I made a delivery in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd come for a visit. So, what were you talking about, Ranchan? Where are you going?"

She then looked at Akane's Keyblade. "Hey, what's that you got there, Akane? A new weapon?"

Akane sighed. 'Of all times, did she have to come now?'


	6. Departure

Author's Note:

Fighter belongs to 8-bit Theater.

* * *

"Um... we are... training for a school play!" Akane chuckled nervously. "Yeah, that's right, a school play, and I... am the heroine, so this is, logically, my weapon."

Nabiki gave her younger sister a look that screamed 'You've got to be kidding!'

Ukyo gave the Keyblade a confused look. "A prop weapon? But it looks so real... may I hold it for a sec?"

"No!" Akane blurted out. "No, I'm afraid you can't because... um... because..."

"Because Akane still needs to get used to holding this thing, and we only have this day to prepare for the play, so we reeaaaally have to go back to practicing."

"Strange, nobody told me about this," Ukyo muttered. "And what were you saying about going on a journey? Was that part of the play as well?"

"Um, no," Ranma spoke up. "See, I'm going on a training trip... and Akane is coming as well."

That remark Ukyo did not like. True, she had gotten used to the fact that Akane and her Ranchan had become closer over the past few weeks, but she secretly had hoped that this would just be a phase...

Then her face lit up. "Can I come too?"

"NO!" Ranma and Akane shouted at once, so firmly that Ukyo stepped back in surprise.

"N-no, that won't be necessary, Ucchan," Ranma grinned nervously. "Um... I didn't really want to take the tomboy along, but you know how our fathers are when they tell us to do stuff together... right?"

Akane gave Ranma a dark glare upon his 'tomboy' remark, but this time, she didn't say anything.

Now Ukyo felt a bit of relief. If Ranma still called her that, chances were big that this 'training trip' would end with the two not talking to each other for a month, giving her a new chance to win Ranma for herself. "Ah, I see... okay, then I guess I head back... I dunno if Konatsu will be able to take care of the customers all by himself."

Before leaving, she knelt down and petted Leormon's head fur. "A nice kitty you've got there, Kasumi!" she smiled. And then, she left.

The Tendo sisters and Ranma let out sighs of relief. Leormon would have done the same, but he was still blissfully purring from Ukyo's gentle petting.

"You know you are supposed to hide when we are having a visitor who doesn't know about our secrets," Kasumi scolded.

"Hey, it's not like I had the time to hide," Leormon defended himself. "Besides, I wouldn't have wanted to miss this for anything in the world... mmmmhh, that girl can pet..."

"I believe we should leave, and I mean very soon," Akane said. "If any more visitors like Ukyo arrive, I don't know if we can keep this charade up... and I don't want to know what Daddy would say if he found out."

"My guess is that he would be overjoyed that you two finally go on a journey together," Nabiki snorted. "Anyways, the Eva is ready for takeoff. You should all fit into the cockpit Gummi or whatever it is called. Anything you want to do before leaving?"

They all shook their head. Ranma had already informed his Senshi friends, Kasumi the Digidestined, and Akane definitely didn't want anybody to hear about her new role as the Keyblade holder... yet.

Nabiki smirked. "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

* * *

Ukyo looked up into the sky when she saw Unit 04 flying across the sky.

'That's strange,' she thought. 'Nabiki has already used that thing this morning... there never has been a NERV emergency twice a day before.'

It was pretty obvious that everyone in Nerima knew about Nabiki's occupation, since her giant Eva was hard to miss... but only a handful of individuals knew that Kasumi was a Digidestined, and only the Tendos and Saotomes knew that Ranma was a Senshi. But Ukyo had been suspicious about what was going in the Tendo household for some time, since she was a lot more observant than Shampoo or the Kunos. She didn't know about Cologne, though.

"There is no school play planned," Ukyo muttered. "I know as much, so what are you planning? But if they know about this, Nabiki and Kasumi must have had a reason not to tell me as well, so what is this all about? I need to get to the bottom of this..."

For now, she had to return to Ucchan's to make sure Konatsu would not be overburdened with his task of taking care of everything by himself.

But when she kept walking, she bumped into a boy who had appeared in front of her.

"Oh, excuse me..." she muttered, then she double-checked. She had never seen this boy before. Yellow clothes, silver-white hair... he was not a citizen of Nerima, that was for sure.

Riku smirked. He didn't know if this girl was one of those Maleficent had sent him for, but he was planning to find out.

"Say... I'm new to this place, and I'm kind of lost. Can you give me some directions?"

Ukyo couldn't help but blush. This guy was just too cute, and the way he was smiling at her...

She shook her head. No, never! Ranma was the only one for her, no matter what! Still, a girl was allowed to look after handsome boys from time to time, wasn't she?

* * *

"Okay, I've activated the interspace drive," Nabiki said. Although she was sitting in her own, secluded Eva cockpit, the others were able to hear her voice loud and clearly. "According to this page, the so-called 'Navi-G' will take us out of outer space and into interspace, allowing us to travel between worlds."

Ranma, Kasumi and Akane watched in awe when the stars and the darkness of outer space vanished around them and was replaced with the cloudy, multi-colored background of interspace. Brown and violet meteors were slowly soaring past them, and strange objects of multiple colors were floating in the distance.

Nabiki turned around Unit 04, and they all could see the world from which they had come. It kind of looked like planet earth, but with a miniature dojo standing where Japan was supposed to be, and a small moon with a tiny, itty-bitty moon palace on it.

"That's what our world looks like in interspace?" Akane sweat-dropped. "Looks pretty... abstract."

"Methinks it has a 'Ranma' theme going on," Nabiki mused. "A dojo, a moon palace..."

"Hey, I didn't come up with that, you know?" Ranma muttered. "Get that giant tin can moving already, Nabiki!"

Nabiki frowned. "Never - ever - call my Eva a tin can again! Understood, Saotome?"

And then, Unit 04 flew off, to boldly go where no Nerimian has ever gone before...

* * *

In the dark interior of Hollow Bastion...

"What are you saying?" Ursula shouted. "Cinderella and Snow White are not the girls we are looking for?"

"They may be princesses, but they are not Princesses of the Heart," Maleficent proclaimed. "You have let yourself be fooled, Lord of the Underworld."

"Bah! One teeny-tiny mishap, and you're marked for life!" Hades grumbled. "Even gods can make mistakes, you know?"

"But those mistakes might cost us everything," Ursula hissed, crawling towards the black-robed villain. "We have risked too much and have come too far to fail now because of your incompetence!"

"Hold your horses here, you big pile of sushi!" Hades grumbled. "I don't see you doing any better."

"Silence, all of you!" Maleficent shouted. "I have known this for some time and already did some research. I have the feeling that I already know the whereabouts of two of our missing princesses... and I've send the boy to take a look at them."

"Do you think the boy's heart is already filled with enough darkness?" Oogie Boogie asked. "What if he starts to question our motives?"

"You are forgetting that it was me who gave him back the body of his friend," the evil witch chuckled. "And if he ever wants to know how to get her heart back, he will do as I say."

"But you don't know anything about that," Ursula frowned.

"Yes, but Riku doesn't!" Maleficent grinned. "And when he has brought me all of the princesses... well, I already know what to do with him..."

"And do you think it's wise just to send the boy?" Captain Hook grumbled. "My ship and my crew are ready to set sail, you just have to give the word."

"You will stay here, we might need your ship for Sora and his petting zoo. Right now, my assistant is negotiating a contract with the owner of another suitable ship that can also fly through interspace... and it is much faster than yours, Hook!"

The one-handed pirate huffed.

Maleficent smiled. "And not only that, it also comes with a nice extra, a beast that once tussled with the mighty Monstro himself... and with the captain of that ship under my command, it will give me complete control over the entire interspace!"

* * *

Meanwhile, in Traverse Town, where a small group of freedom fighters was taking care of the refugees that had arrived from worlds that had recently been engulfed by darkness...

"And there was this strange thing in the sky, and those black monsters, and everything went dark..." the small, upset girl said.

"It's all right, you are safe now," Aerith Gainsborough said to her in a calm voice. "They can't harm you here."

"Not?" the girl in the yellow dress asked with disappointment. "Aw, and I still wanted to pay them back for what they did..."

Meanwhile, Leon was talking to a red-headed man. It seemed to be a young warrior, since he was wearing a sturdy armor and a sword on his side.

"...and then all went crazy, and I went 'WHOOSH' and Red Mage went 'TWANG', and Black Mage just said 'HADOKEN', and I went with 'ME-DOKEN'... and then I felt something at the back of my head... something stabbity... and then I was here..."

"I... see," Leon sweatdropped, wondering if the traumatic experience was a bit too much for the young man. "Still, you seem to be an experienced fighter, and we are in need of people to protect the civilians from the Heartless. Would you be willing to help?"

"Sure, why not?" he shrugged. "It's what Black Mage would have done, after all. Well, he wouldn't admit it, but I know he's really a good guy... and did I already tell you I like your sword?"

Leon glanced down at his gunblade. "Uh, thanks, I guess... say, what was your name again?"

"Fighter."

Leon blinked. "Um, yeah, I already know you're a fighter... but I meant your full name."

"Fighter McWarrior."

Leon decided not to ask. "Well then... Fighter... welcome to the team! And I'll make sure to call you when we find a sign of your friends."

The little girl had heard what Leon had said and came running over from where she had been talking with Aerith. "Hey, can I join you as well?"

Yuffie, who was leaning against a wall, chuckled. "I suppose you'd be a great help, but don't you think you're a bit small?"

"I may be small, but I can fight," Selphie proclaimed and pulled a skipping rope from her pocket. She twirled it around like a weapon. "See?"

Yuffie didn't want to admit it, but she was impressed. For somebody that young, the girl surely handled that rope like it was a dangerous weapon.

She grinned. "Okay, mistress of the nunchucks, why don't you come with me and we'll see if you can help Mr. Cid to guard his store."

Selphie smiled.

Leon scratched his head while looking after Yuffie and the girl. 'That's strange...' he thought. 'She somehow... looks familiar.'

Fighter, on the other hand, had only stared at Selphie's skipping rope, and the way she had handled it.

And it reminded him of his dream.

"Sword-chucks, yo!"

* * *

Unit 04 was standing at the bottom of a steep ravine, hidden from curious eyes.

Ranma helped his fiancee up the steep cliff. "What makes you believe that this is Cait Sith's homeworld?" he asked.

"Well, we have to start our search somewhere, right?" Akane said while climbing to the top. "You didn't have the idea to just ask him about it either, right?"

Liomon came jumping out of the deep canyon, carrying Kasumi on his back. The eldest Tendo daughter slid off the Champion Digimon's back.

"We all were a bit occupied with his passing away," she said. "We believed that he could show us the directions on the way."

She looked around the calm forest they were standing in. "Well, this world certainly looks nice and calm, and the air is very fresh..."

She turned back around and saw Nabiki working on her Eva. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Nabiki?"

"Naw, you go on ahead without me!" the Eva pilot said. "There are still a few things I wanna try out with those blocks... maybe we can fly even faster when I put the correct Gummis on the hull. I wouldn't be a great help after all. Outside of my cockpit I'm just a regular girl..."

"Well, if that is your decision... we'll try to come back at lunchtime."

"Gotcha! See ya later, sis!"

Liomon digivolved back into Leormon. "Are you sure it's wise to leave her behind? She's right, she can't fight by herself, and what if any bad guys show up...?"

"Well, maybe this world isn't so bad," Kasumi smiled. "Besides, didn't Cait Sith say that all the Heartless would be attracted to Akane's Keyblade?"

"That's right," Akane nodded while they walked through the woods. "If they want anything, they'll come after me... so I'm actually rather glad to have you guys with me. If it weren't for Cait Sith's help, they would have overwhelmed me the last time I fought them..."

"Hey now, I had to learn how to use my Senshi powers as well," Ranma said. "Just give it some time, Akane!"

Akane was about to answer, but was interrupted when several dark figures came jumping out of the thicket in front of them. Most of them had dark faces, glowing, beady little eyes and wore some sort of armor.

And Akane instantly recognized the emblem on those armors.

"Emblem Heartless!" she shouted and willed her Keyblade to appear. "So they're in this world after all."

Suddenly, another figure appeared in the middle of the Soldier Heartless.

"That's right, my dear little minions, keep them in check so we can bring them to the master!"

Ranma grimaced when he saw the little, toad-like creature with the green skin. "What in the world is that thing?"

"Creeper, at your service, dear travellers!" the little monster in the medieval clothes grinned. "Servant of the almighty Horned King... the ruler of the very land you walk upon. So if you know what's good for you, you better come with me... or even better, you tell me right away whatever you know about the Black Cauldron!"

"Sorry to disappoint you!" Akane grumbled and raised her Keyblade, while Ranma went into a battle stance and Leormon bared his fangs. "But I don't like any jerk-kings that sic Heartless on us."

"Well, it's gonna be your funeral..." Creeper hissed. "Get them!"


	7. Riku, welcome to Nerima

"MOKO TAKABISHA!" Ranma yelled, cupping his hands and throwing his signature ki attack at the Heartless.

"CRITICAl STRIKE!" Liomon shouted, crunching a hapless Soldier between his jaws, making it evaporate into darkness and a lone heart that soared away before it dissolved into nothingness.

Akane finished the last of the Heartless with a powerful strike of her Keyblade.

Ranma wiped his hands. "Piece of cake," he grinned.

"Well done, Liomon!" Kasumi said to her partner.

Akane pointed her Keyblade at Creeper. "Now, what was that about taking us to your king?"

Creeper was furious. "The Horned King will make you pay," he hissed, then he turned around and ran away.

"Hey, not so fast!" Ranma shouted, and together, they ran after him.

But just when they thought they could catch up with him, they saw him jumping on the back of a slightly bigger, winged Heartless that resembled a small dragon of some kind.

They could hear his cackling laughter, while the Wyvern carried him away.

"Nuts, too late!" Liomon growled.

Akane groaned. "Why is it that all the bad guys we meet always run away?" she asked.

"Don't you worry, Akane, they have a tendency of doing that," Ranma pointed out. "I've gotten used to that by now. In the end, they all get what they deserve, so don't let it bother you."

"Well, at least we have learned a few things about this world," Akane then said. "The Heartless have already appeared here, this so-called 'Horned King' is bad news, and he and his lackeys already have control over the Heartless. But what is that 'Black Cauldron' he was talking about?"

"Sounds like some magical thing," Ranma assumed. "Too bad the old ghoul's not here, or else we could have asked her. Wait, did I say too bad? Of course I mean: Thank goodness!"

"I doubt Cologne would be able to help us," Kasumi spoke up. "After all, she has never been on this world before and therefore wouldn't know anything about it."

"Um, hello?" Akane asked. "Do we even have to bother? I mean, this clearly isn't the world we are looking for. I think Cait Sith would have informed us about any 'Horned King', don't you agree? I suggest we just go back to the Evangelion and try the next world."

"You have a point there," Leormon said, after digivolving back from Liomon. "After all, if he's really the king, it's not like we could do anything against him."

"It's settled, then," Akane nodded. "Let's go back, maybe Nabiki is already finished with her 'experiments'..."

Ranma pouted. "Too bad..." he grumbled. "I was hoping I could beat up some bad guys again..." Reluctantly, he followed the two girls and the lion Digimon.

"Oh, I have the feeling there will be many chances for you to do that, Ranma-kun!" Kasumi smiled.

Suddenly, Akane stopped. "Wait a minute..." she whispered. "Did you hear that?"

Kasumi and Ranma listened. "I can't hear anything," Ranma admitted.

"I hear it as well..." Leormon growled. "Up ahead, in the shrubbery..."

"More Heartless?" Kasumi wondered.

And then, a fuzzy blur came leaping out of the shrubs, clinging tightly to Akane.

"GAH!" Akane yelped as she felt furry hands groping around her clothes. "Gedditoff! Gedditoff!"

"Ooooh, what have we here?" a gleeful voice shouted while reaching into her pockets. "Munchings and crunchings for poor, starved Gurgi! What a joyous day..."

"Hey, get off her!" Ranma shouted, while raising his fist. Besides him, Leormon bared his fangs.

"Hold on, you two!" Kasumi said. "I don't think he's evil..."

"Well, yeah, then he should stop climbing all over my body!" Akane yelled. Finally, she managed to take the furry, little critter's arms and pulled him off her body. "Hey, you! What's the big idea?"

The little, kobold-like creature smiled in triumph and raised the little item it had pilfered from Akane's pocket high above his head. "A tasty cookie! How nice of the cute girl to give Gurgi his munchings and crunchings!"

"Hey, that's mine!" Akane protested. "I made those myself, and I need them as provisions, so give it back!"

Gurgi clutched the cookie close to his furry chest. "No, that belongs to Gurgi now!"

"Um, you really DON'T want to eat that, you know?" Ranma spoke up. It didn't feel right to him if the small, cute-looking creature would have to suffer from Akane's cooking.

"How about this," Kasumi suggested while approaching Gurgi. "You give that back to Akane, and we'll give you something nice to eat when we get back to my sister Nabiki. How does that sound?"

Gurgi was a bit uncertain, but the charming smile of the human girl in front of him made him surrender pretty quickly.

"Okay, Gurgi agrees," he said and gave Akane back the cookie. "Gurgi is sorry for taking away your munchings and crunchings..."

"Well, I certainly hope so," Akane huffed, accepted the cookie and took a big bite herself.

Shortly afterwards, her face turned green and she ran into the bushes.

"Excuse me..." she muttered. Seconds later, they all could hear sounds of puking and vomiting.

Kasumi sighed. "Poor Akane... I certainly hope she'll learn how to cook one of these days..."

Gurgi suddenly felt as if he had barely managed to avoid a gruesome fate.

Suddenly, a loud, inhuman screech made them all jump in surprise. A sharp squeal followed quickly.

"What... what was that?" Leormon gasped.

"It's coming from over there," Ranma shouted. "Yo, Akane, it's time to go!"

"Just... give me... a second here..." the Keyblade Mistress gasped while she came stumbling out of the bushes, pale as a sheet.

"Gurgi, hurry up!" Kasumi said and picked the little guy off the ground.

"N-n-no..." Gurgi protested. "Evil screams... bad sign... Gurgi no wanna go..."

Together, they followed the loud screeches and squeals.

"NO!" a voice in front of them shouted. "NO, COME BACK, PLEASE! NO!"

"Sounds like someone's in trouble," Leormon pointed out.

"Oh no, is that great prince Gurgi met earlier?" Gurgi asked in a worried tone of voice while being carried by Kasumi.

They reached the edge of the forest and saw how a young, human lad in peasant's clothing was frantically running after a pair of flying Heartless, the very same ones Cribble had been riding on earlier. One of the Wyverns was holding a struggling and squealing form in his claws.

"No, come back!" the boy shouted. "Come back!"

"Hey, you, hold up!" Ranma shouted. When the other boy didn't reply, he just ran after him.

"What's wrong with him?" Akane wondered. "Why is he running after those Heartless?"

"Gurgi met generous prince in forest, shortly before he met nice girl..." He smiled up at Kasumi. "Asked Gurgi if he had seen his piggy, but Gurgi could not help him..."

"A... pig?" Ranma suddenly had to think of Ryoga. "Is that what the Heartless are carrying?"

"Why would the Heartless be after a pig?" Akane wondered.

They caught up to the young boy at the foot of a huge, towering mountain... with a menacing-looking castle on its top. The two Wyverns had vanished inside, along with their prey.

"Hen Wen..." he murmured. "I have to get her out of there..."

"Hey, you!" Ranma said when they arrived next to him. "What are you doing? Those Heartless are dangerous."

"Yes, and you don't even have a weapon," Akane pointed out.

"But... but Hen Wen!" the boy protested. "They've got Hen Wen! I have to save her..."

"Oh no," Gurgi gasped. "Great Lord not go in there, forget the piggy!"

A dark frown appeared on the boy's face. "What, you again?"

Gurgi smiled. "Gurgi come back to be your friend."

"Friend? You're no friend? Why did you run away when..."

"Wait a minute... maybe we can help you," Ranma offered.

Akane looked up at her fiance in surprise. "We can?"

Ranma smiled. "Yup, it's a martial artist's duty..."

"... to help those in need, yeah, I heard that somewhere before," Akane sighed. "Oh well, I guess we can help him, but... what is this place anyway?"

"The Horned King's castle..." the youngster murmured.

Akane sighed. "Why am I not surprised? Okay, and why would he want to steal your pig away from you? I doubt he's like Azusa..."

"Like who?" the boy asked.

"Long story..." Akane said. "But wait, before you say anything, maybe we should know each other's names. I'm Akane Tendo, and this are my sister Kasumi, her partner Leormon, and my fiance Ranma Saotome."

"Um, I'm Taran... and, well... there's a very good reason for why the Horned King would kidnap Hen Wen."

"And that would be?"

"Well, you know, Dallben, my guardian, told me about this Black Cauldron..."

* * *

In the large dining hall of his castle, the Horned King was sitting on his throne. All around him, the lifeless skeletons of dead men were lying and hanging from the walls.

"Oh, yes..." the Horned King began to mumble in his dark voice. "Yes, my soldiers. Soon the Black Cauldron will be mine. It's evil power will flow through my veins, and I, shall make you CAULDRON-BORN! Yes! YES! Oh, yes! Then you will worship ME! Me. Oh, my soldiers, how long I have thirsted to be the God, among mortal men..."

He then let his gaze sweep across the Heartless in front of him, all of which had once been his loyal followers. "You might be better soldiers than my old henchmen, but I need more than that... I need immortal soldiers who will be as loyal to me as are you. And the cauldron-born... will be just that."

* * *

Riku took a bite of the okonomiyaki. He then smiled up at Ukyo. "This is really good!"

She blushed. "Th-thank you..." she murmured. 'Dangit,' she thought. 'He's cute as heck, and he's not Ranma...'

Seeing that Riku had finished his first serving, she stammered: "W-w-would you like to have one more?"

He nodded. "Yes, please!"

"Right away, Riku-kun!" she blurted out before running back to her grill.

'Riku-kun?' she wondered. 'Where did that come from?'

Konatsu watched with envy how his mistress was scampering around the restaurant, trying to make the new customer's life as pleasant as possible. He knew it was Ukyo's own decision who she chose, but... he wished she would make up her mind for once. First it was Ranma, now it was this guy...

If only he wasn't so handsome...

When Ukyo returned with the next okonomiyaki and put it in front of Riku, the white-haired boy decided it was time to ask her.

"Say, Ukyo..." he began.

"Y-yes?" Ukyo asked.

"I was wondering... those 'Sailor Senshi' everyone talks about... do you know where I can find them?"

'Huh?' Ukyo wondered. 'Why would he want to know where the Senshi are?'

Riku leaned back in his chair. "Well, it's like this... I was always a HUGE fan of them, but I never had the chance to see them. So, I would be very thankful if you could help me further..."

One look into his icy blue eyes, and Ukyo couldn't resist. "Th-they usually have been spotted in Juuban," she murmured. "That's where most of the monsters they are fighting appear..."

Riku smiled. 'Bingo!' he thought. 'Maleficent was right... say the right stuff to a girl, and she's willing to tell you anything you wan to know.'

"Then I will go there... as soon as I've finished this DELICIOUS oko... onoko..."

"Okonomiyaki!" Ukyo quickly said.

Riku nodded and took another bite. Damn, this stuff sure was good. He wondered how it would taste with Paopu fruits...

He blinked in surprise, when suddenly, the restaurant's front door was slammed open, and a buxom, young woman with lavender hair came storming in.

"Spatula girl!" she shouted. "Where is Airen?"

Ukyo glowered. "First of all, Ranma is NOT your 'Airen'... and second, what do you think you're doing? Don't you see I have a customer?"

"Airen, violent girl, nice girl and mercenary girl are gone! Panda-man and violent girl's father no know where they can be. You not worried?"

"Hey, if they are with Ranma, they'll be fine," Ukyo grumbled. "Now could you PLEASE stop making a scene in my restaurant?"

Shampoo was surprised. "Ukyo NOT worry about Ranma being together with Akane?" She felt the young chef's forehead. "Is you sick?"

Ukyo angrily brushed her off. "I'm NOT sick, you... look, can't we take this outside?"

Riku stood up. "I was going to leave anyways..."

"What?" Ukyo asked in surprise. "No, please stay, you haven't even tried my shrimp okonomiyaki yet..."

"AH-HAH!" Shampoo shouted and pointed her finger at Ukyo's face. "Spatula girl has NEW boyfriend, right? Ranma and ninja-boy aren't enough for you, so now you also try white-haired boy?"

Konatsu blushed. "Please, Shampoo-san, don't bring me into this..."

Ukyo glared at her rival fiancee. "How DARE you? Ranma is the only one for me! Riku is nothing but a friendly customer, and Konatsu... well, he is just my friend."

'JUST her friend...' Konatsu thought to himself again and again. 'JUST her friend... JUST her friend...'

He averted his eyes from the scene and ran out of the room. UKyo was surprised. "K-konatsu?"

Riku sweatdropped. He really didn't want to get involved with those girls' love affairs, so he decided to leave... only to be grabbed by Shampoo by his shirt.

"You think Shampoo is blind?" the amazon shouted at Ukyo and gestured at Riku's face. "Spatula girl went all gaga over white-haired boy... not that Shampoo blames you, he is quite handsome... but if you not want Ranma anymore, you should have said so."

"He is NOT my boyfriend, dammit!" Ukyo yelled. "Now let go of him already!"

Riku looked down at Shampoo's hand. "Would you kindly remove your hand?" he asked angrily.

Shampoo didn't listen. "If you want white-haired boy, fine, Shampoo will have Ranma!" She smirked. "I mean, he IS cutie, isn't he? Those eyes... those muscles..." She poked the ex-Keyblade master in the ribs. "Nothing like Ranma of course, but still quite the catch..."

Riku reached out with his right hand and grasped Shampoo's wrist. "I warned you!" he stated.

Shampoo glared. "You let go of Shampoo, or she..."

With a powerful move, Riku threw the amazon across the room. Ukyo gasped when she saw Shampoo soaring past her.

The amazon curled up her body in mid-air and landed on her feet. Out of nowhere, her bonbori appeared in her hands. "If you want a fight, white-haired boy, you got one!"

With a sudden burst of darkness, Riku's Soul Eater blade appeared in his hands. "I have no time to play with little girls, but if you insist..." he grumbled.

"Shampoo is strong amazon warrior, and she will beat you!"

"HEY! Can you please stop fighting in my restaurant?" Ukyo yelled.

They ignored her. Shampoo leapt at Riku, bringing down her bonbori. Riku blocked the attack with the Soul Eater and slashed at her. Shampoo dodged, but he still managed to slice up part of her Chinese dress.

'He's good...' Shampoo thought. 'But not as good as Ranma.'

"Shampoo beat you now," she said and threw one of her bonbori at him.

Riku simply knocked it away and held out his left hand. 'Time to try out this new trick Maleficent taught me...' he thought.

A sphere of dark energy was focussed in the middle of his palm.

"Dark Firaga!" he shouted and fired it at Shampoo. The amazon warrior gasped and tried to block it with her remaining bonbori, but the dark fire flew past her weapon and hit her in the chest. Shampoo cried out from the burning sensation and was knocked back from the force of the blast. She was thrown in-between several chairs, which collapsed on top of her.

Riku lowered his hand. "That's what you get for meddling with the wrong people... little girl!"

Shampoo struggled to get back up, but failed miserably. The darkness made her feel weak and feeble.

Riku let his Soul Eater vanish and glared at her. "The next time you decide to pick a fight, try to take one who's not out of your league!" And with those words, he turned around and left the restaurant.

Ukyo's heart fluttered when she saw him strutting out of her restaurant. 'He... he looked so awesome...' she thought. 'So brave...'

She then gave herself a few knocks on the head. 'Get a grip, girl! Ranma's the only one for you, got it?'

Shampoo, in the meantime, had managed to slowly climb back to her feet. She also looked after the white-haired warrior who had just walked out of the door.

'He... he beat me in combat...' she thought. 'He is strong... just like Ranma...'

"Airen..." she whispered. "Wo ai ni."

* * *

When Riku was walking down the street, he realized that he had forgotten to ask the female chef for the directions to Juuban.

"Well, whatever," he grumbled. "I can still ask someone else."

At least he had the chance to unwind a little. It was interesting to see that many people in this world seemed to be so powerful...

Suddenly, a metal chain was wrapped around his upper body, keeping him from walking on. He looked around and saw a young man in a white robe with long, wide sleeves. The metal chain was coming out of one of those sleeves.

"How dare you beat up my Shampoo?" Mousse yelled. "She is mine and mine alone! Do you get that, Saotome?"

Riku frowned. "What are you talking about?"

"DIE, RANMA!" Mousse yelled as he threw a training potty at Riku's head. Riku shrugged, twirled around, jumped up into the air and kicked the duck-shaped pot back at the nearly-blind master of hidden weapons.

Mousse dodged his own projectile, and it slammed into the asphalt. "You are good, Saotome, but not good enough to escape my wrath! Now, away with you!" He pulled at the chain with all his might and twirled it around his body, Riku with it.

Riku grimaced and tried to struggle free. When that didn't work, he tried to summon his Soul Eater, so he could slash these chains apart... but a sudden attack of nausea made it hard to concentrate...

Mousse yelled and yanked his arm upwards... Riku got propelled up into the air, the chains unwrapped themselves from his body, and he flew high above the rooftops of Nerima...

...until he crash-landed on a certain roof, broke through, and landed on something soft.

He coughed a few times, then he tried to get his bearings.

"Well, good thing this bed was here to cushion my fall..." he muttered to himself. It was a very soft bed, even if it was a bit too pink... and those frills weren't quite his taste either. And those stuffed animals...

"Awww, how nice! Are you a present of Mikado?"

Riku blinked and saw the girl with the pink dress who had just entered the room. "Huh...?"

Azusa Shiratori smiled. "This is the first time a cute boy willingly came into Azusa's room. And even in my bed... naughty, naughty..."

Riku sweatdropped. "Listen, this is just a misunderstanding, I only want to..."

"Come to Azusa, little Claude!" the kleptomaniac shouted as she leapt at him, a pink collar in her hands.

All Riku could do was gulp and think to himself:

'Mommy...'


	8. The spoony bard

Kodachi blinked. "Wh-what...?" She jumped to her feet and noticed that she was trapped inside some sort of glass tank, which was covered with a white blanket. "Who did this?" she shouted angrily while pounding the glass. "How dare you? Let me out of here!"

Suddenly, the blanket got removed, and Kodachi saw that she was in some sort of dark cellar or dungeon. In front of her, the woman who had introduced herself as Countess Arlene was standing, a smug grin on her face. But now, she wasn't wearing the victorian-style dress she had seen her in earlier. It almost looked like... a dark purple ninja costume? It reminded Kodachi of the ninja servant of that chef harlot who always was after her Ranma.

Arlene stepped forward and touched the glass with her hand. "How does it feel?" she teased. "Being a member of nobility, and trapped inside a cage of glass? To be teased by the ones who have you at their mercy?"

"Let me go!" Kodachi demanded again. "You can't do this! I'm a member of the noble house of Kuno!"

"Yes, I know," Arlene snickered. "And you would do anything to claim your darling as your own, isn't that right?"

She leaned even further forward, until only the glass separated her from Kodachi. Her breath fogged up the glass as she whispered: "You would even be... ready to kill. I've seen into your heart. And it's a dark heart, full of anger, madness and sorrow. And that is... why you make such a good Heartless."

She then stepped back from the flustered Kodachi, to another tank, which was standing behind her. But this tank was covered by a huge blanket.

In a dramatic gesture, Arlene pulled the blanket off the glass tank, revealing the creature that was crouching in there.

Kodachi stared at the monster with wide eyes. It somehow looked like the Black Rose Heartless she had commanded earlier, but it was smaller and more humanoid in shape. It also had a ponytail made of black leaves and a long, thorny whip that looked like a ribbon.

"No..." Kodachi whispered. "No..."

"A real cutie, isn't she?" Arlene grinned. "I think I'm gonna call her 'Fallen Rose'. And in case you haven't guessed it yet, she is your Heartless."

"But... but the book..." Kodachi protested. "The book I found... it said that Heartless come into existence when a person's heart is being consumed by the darkness... so why am I...?"

"Why are you still here, you say?" Arlene smiled. "Simple, my dear: You are not really Kodachi Kuno! That is, not quite..."

"Wh-wh-what?" the black-haired gymnast stuttered.

"What the book didn't tell you is that if a person has a strong mind, this person's body and soul will live on without the heart. They will become Nobodies!"

Kodachi's Nobody felt her body with her fingers, unable to believe that she wasn't the real Kodachi Kuno. She looked over to the feral Heartless, who growled at her.

"My... my heart..." she murmured. "But... but I still feel my heart... it's longing for Ranma..."

"No, no, you silly girl!" Arlene laughed. "What you feel are just fake emotions. Your soul is pretending to have a heart, and given some time, you will come to realize that you have no feelings at all. You are not meant to exist..."

The Nobody covered her ears with her hands. "Stop it, stop it, STOP IT!"

"You think I'm lying? You think I don't know what I'm talking about? I beg to differ, dear... since I have abandoned my body and soul a long time ago..."

Kodachi's Nobody gasped. "You are..."

The countess grinned. "You finally realize it? Yes... I am a Heartless, just like that pitiful creature over there." She gestured at the Fallen Rose. "But I am more powerful than her... that's why I don't look as monstrous as she does. I can control the lesser Heartless... and even more." She came closer to the Nobody's tank. "Let's see, you need a new name... how about... Xadchiko?" She giggled. "Yes, Xadchiko, that's your new name!"

Xadchiko backed off. She felt nervous and afraid, but if Arlene was telling her the truth, these feelings weren't real. "What... are you going to do to me?" she finally asked.

"Don't you worry, my dear," Arlene said. "I won't let you suffer for long. See, the true reason why I need you as a Nobody is... so I can harvest part of your soul."

"My... my soul?" Xadchiko gasped.

"That's right!" the countess nodded. "Here, let me show you a creation of mine..." She walked up to another tank, which was covered with a blue blanket. "I give you... the Soulmates!"

She pulled the blanket away, and revealed the inhabitants of the next tank. They were mist-like, had pale, blue claws and faces that looked completely human. Xadchiko noticed that all of them were female.

The countess pointed at one of the Soulmates. "You! Come out!"

The Soulmate, who had the sad face of a young and pretty girl, came floating out of the tank. Arlene reached for her belt and pulled out a few weapons which Xadchiko realized to be kunais.

Arlene took on a typical ninja pose and pulled a face mask up to cover the lower part of her face. "Attack!" she told the Soulmate.

Still smiling sadly, the ghostly girl flew at her mistress, claws outstretched. Arlene parried every claw strike with her weapons, kicked the Soulmate away (How did she do that if they are like mist, Xadchiko wondered), jumped up into the air and threw a barrage of kunais at it. Giving off an almost human-sounding sigh, the Soulmate dissolved into sparkling dust, which faded away.

Arlene put away her remaining kunais and pulled down her face mask again. Walking back to the tank, she explained: "I am convinced that women have the most brilliant of souls." She smiled softly at the Soulmates. One of the ghostly creatures floated up to her and smiled back. "I gathered the Nobodies of strong-willed women to conduct my own experiments on them. My dream is to completely extract a Nobody's soul, so it will live as an own entity. Sadly, I only managed to free these soul shards... poor, unfortunate souls that long to be whole again. They are pretty loyal and grateful for their existence, but they would be even more grateful if I managed to recover the rest of their soul. But whenever one of the Soulmates was created, the remaining soul shards are being destroyed, forever... you see, my main goal is to create a new Soulmate, one that is made of a complete soul. And it will be my only true soulmate..."

Arlene sighed and leaned back against the wall. "As a Nobody, she became cruel and sadistic... or at least she pretends to be. I know she has no heart. But maybe... just maybe... I will be able to merge with her soul again, once we get rid of that pesky body..." She giggled insanely.

"And... what do you need me for?" Xadchiko asked.

Arlene looked at her. "Why, I thought it was obvious, my dear! You will be my newest pet project... a new attempt on creating the perfect Soulmate!"

The black-haired Nobody gasped. "No! No, I won't become like them!" she shouted, pointing at the Soulmates.

"Don't you worry," Arlene snickered. "If everything works out fine, you will become one with your heart again..." She gestured at the Heartless crouching in the other tank. "Isn't that wonderful? And now, let us begin..."

Xadchiko nervously backed off when the heartless countess slowly approached her tank...

* * *

An Emblem Heartless slowly floated along the dark corridor. One of its eyes hang out of its socket, connected only by a thin string. The other one glowed as brightly as a flashlight, and the light it emitted wandered across the walls, searching for any sign of an intruder. When the Search Ghost found none, it continued on its patrol.

Ranma looked out of the alcove he and his companions had hidden in. "The coast is clear," he whispered. "Let's get going!"

"I swear, this castle is even more gloomy than Myotismon's..." Leormon grumbled while they followed the young martial artist. "What are we looking for, anyway?"

"His pig, remember?" Akane told him. She shook her head. "I still can't believe that a pig has clairvoyant powers..."

"I couldn't believe it either at first," Taran shrugged. "But I know that I am her assistant pig-keeper, and I've promised Dallben to bring her to a safe place."

"Um, not to discourage you, buddy, but how exactly are you planning on doing that?" Ranma asked him. "You don't even have a weapon, and I don't really believe you are a martial artist..."

"I... don't know how," Taran sighed. "I just know I have to..."

Kasumi sighed. "I still wish we didn't have to leave Gurgi behind..."

A grim expression appeared on Taran's face. "It was his own decision, wasn't it? If he's not brave enough to save Hen Wen, then we don't need him. What kind of friend abandons his friends in the times of need?"

"He was just scared," Kasumi softly said. "And I can't blame him... I really have a bad feeling about this place..."

"We will leave soon enough... after we find Taran's little pig," Akane said. "I know I would be worried if P-chan was kidnapped like that."

"I think old pork-butt would be able to take care of himself..." Ranma grumbled.

Akane gave him a bop to his head. "Ranma, don't tease P-chan!" she grumbled.

"Be quiet!" Leormon hissed. "Or we'll be spotted!"

"Hello?" a voice suddenly spoke up in the darkness. "Who's there? Please, if you aren't one of them, get me out of here!"

Ranma and Taran looked at each other and then, they followed the voice. It was coming from the door of a single cell with no other exit. Through the cell's little window, they could see a young girl with long, blonde hair. Her dress was dirty from the smut-covered floor.

Her face brightened when she saw Ranma's and Taran's faces. "Ah, I knew I heard some voices down here. Are you prisoners as well?"

"Um, no, actually, we're trying to save someone," Ranma said.

The girl smiled. "Well, I'd say you found someone who is in the need of being saved. I am Princess Eilonwy. Are you two lords... or warriors?"

"Um, no... I'm an... assistant pig-keeper..." Taran meekly said.

"Aw, what a pity..." Eilonwy sighed. "I was hoping for someone to help me escape."

"Hey, I'm a martial artist," Ranma boldly said. "I can get you out of here. Stand back for a moment..."

Taran did as he was told, and Ranma reached out with his finger to touch the door. "You better cover your eyes," he told the princess. "BAKUSAI TENKETSU!"

With a loud crash, the door broke open, raining shards of wood and metal into the princess' cell.

She blinked in surprise. "Oh my, you are a strong one!"

Akane clonked her fiance on the head, once again. "Smooth move, Ranma!" she grumbled. "Now they know where we are."

"You think so?" Ranma asked while rubbing his head.

"Well, the explosion WAS pretty loud..." Taran murmured, wishing he was able to do that as well.

"Follow me, I know of a secret tunnel," Eilonwy said as she came out of the cell.

"Um, actually, we are still trying to find his pig..." Kasumi pointed out.

Eilonwy giggled. "Oh, yes! Your PIG!"

Her words angered Taran. "But my pig can tell the future."

"Oooooh, how interesting!" she giggled. "Well, you better stay close to me or you'll get lost. And don't worry, the secret corridor leads through all of this castle, so I think we'll be able to save your piggy!"

Taran had a deep frown on her face while they followed the spunky princess.

"I really don't like her..." he grumbled.

* * *

In a corner of the Horned King's throne room, surrounded by Heartless and the dead remains of long dead warriors, sat a green-haired girl with a look of sorrow on her face. In her lap, there was a little pig which she was petting. They were both chained to the wall behind them.

"Don't worry, Hen Wen," she sighed. "I'm sure someone will come and save us..."

"You really don't believe that, do you?" the deep voice of the Horned King suddenly spoke up. The girl got startled. She hadn't even noticed that he was standing close by.

She hugged Hen Wen to her chest. "I've seen things that were at least as horrible as what you are planning to do. You can't scare me!"

The king chuckled. "Bold words, young Rydia! But you won't be so courageous when the time comes that I need your powers, will you?"

"I will never do what you asked of me," Rydia said defiantly. "Even if you found the Black Cauldron."

"Is that so?" the Horned King asked. "I beg to differ. Soon enough, I will find out how to use the pig's abilities, and when that time comes, the Black Cauldron will be mine." He stared at her. "And you will summon the dark spirit trapped in there so he can do my bidding."

She shook her head. "Never!"

"Careful..." he grumbled. "You are forgetting that we still have the old man. If you keep on resisting me... I may just take my anger out at him."

* * *

"Hey, how long is this corridor?" Akane asked.

"I don't know it either," Eilonwy said. "I found out about it the first time I tried to escape. Fortunately, they didn't learn about the tunnel back then. Still, they managed to catch me just when I was about to leave the main gate. And while they couldn't find out the true reason for how I was able to flee, they were wise enough to put me into a different cell this time around. I also haven't had the time to explore the tunnel completely."

"As long as we can use it to save Hen Wen..." Taran mumbled.

Ranma, who had run ahead, suddenly came back to them. "Hey! It's a dead end up ahead! Shall I use the Bakusai Tenketsu again?"

"Do you want the walls around us to collapse?" Akane asked. "Eilonwy, did you know about this?"

"No, I'm surprised myself," the princess said. "This is strange... there isn't supposed to be a dead end. I always thought the tunnel would lead through the whole castle..."

Kasumi sighed. "So does that mean we have to turn around?" she asked and leaned against the wall. One of the bricks she was leaning against suddenly slid back into the wall, and with a grinding sound, the wall in front of them opened up.

"Another secret door!" Akane grinned. "Oneechan, you truly are amazing!"

"Oh my! That was nothing..." the modest Digidestined blushed.

"She's right, you know?" Leormon grinned.

Ranma peered into the darkness behind the secret door. "Hmm, looks like a huge, empty room... but it's so dark, we need some light."

"Wait, there's a torch..." Akane said. She lit it with a fire spell and entered the room herself, followed by the others.

"Ah, a burial chamber," Eilonwy said and gestured at the huge stone coffin that was in the middle of the room. "This could be the tomb of the great king who built this castle. Before the Horned King took over..."

"He must have been a great warrior..." Taran murmured and looked down at the coffin. Its lid was lying on the ground, and he could see the king's dead remains.

Akane grimaced. "Yuck! Let's get out of here, this place is making me feel queasy..."

"But do you see any exit?" Ranma asked.

"Let's see..." Akane murmured and walked over to the other wall. "See, theres a hole... and I can see another tunnel behind it. Someone must have sealed this room so the king's rest would not be disturbed."

"But I don't think there's a secret door this time around..." Eilonwy spoke up as she came closer to them.

Meanwhile, Taran was taking a closer look at the king's corpse. He had seen something shiny lying next to him.

"A sword..." he murmured.

Dusting the old weapon off, he takes it out of the coffin and raises it high up into the air.

Akane sighed. "Too bad! Looks like we're going to to this the hard way... but no Bakusai Tenketsu this time around, Ranma!"

"Well, how else do you expect me to get past that wall?" Ranma grumbled. "With my fists?"

"No, you dummy! Use your Senshi magic!"

"All right already..." Ranma grumbled and took out his transformation pen. "Careful, this might freak you out," he warned Taran and Eilonwy.

"Terra Planet Power, make up!"

In a swirl of diamond shards, he turned into the Senshi of Earth.

Eilonwy gaped at the red-head in the fuku. "How... beautiful..." she murmured. "You really are a girl?"

Sailor Terra grimaced. "No, I just turn into one. Stand back, everyone..."

When she had enough space, she put her hands together in front of her body.

"DIAMOND DRILL!" she shouted, and her hands got encased with a solid drill made of diamonds. She pressed it against her wall, it began to spin faster and faster, and in the end, she managed to enlarge the hole in the wall.

When the hole was big enough that they all could get through, she let the drill disappear. "There, that should do it."

When she looked around, she saw the sword that Taran was holding. "Hey! Where'd you find that?"

"Um, from back there," Taran said and gestured back at the coffin.

"You mean...?" Eilonwy murmured.

Taran shrugged. "Well, he's not going to use it..."

Akane sighed. "Let's go already..." she said. With the torch in her hand, she walked through the hole Terra had drilled and followed the tunnel. The others followed her.

Eilonwy smiled. "I like your skirt, you know?"

Terra decided to ignore that remark.

Soon enough, they came past another door.

"Shall we take this one?" Akane asked.

Eilonwy shook her head. "No, these are the western cells. We still have a way to go until we reach the throne room... and if I'm not mistaken, and he really wants to use that pig to find this weird cauldron, it should be there."

"Then saving Hen Wen won't be too easy..." Kasumi noticed.

Taran grinned. "Hey, now that I have a sword as well, I don't see how we can lose."

"As long as you know how to use it..." Akane said.

She just wanted to go on, when they heard loud voices coming from behind the door.

"I told you, it's your fault!"

"Excuse me for being gallant, sir! I am a Fflam, and a performer, on top of that. All I wanted to do is to save the girl - how was I supposed to know that it was a trap?"

"Rydia got captured because you had to act like a fool in front of her!" the other voice shouted. "You spoony bard! Just wait when I get my hands on you..."

"You are a quarrelsome, old man, and that's all I have to say! It's not my fault, that's all I say."

A loud TWANG was then heard.

"See? Even your harp disagrees! Admit it, it's your fault!"

"Why, you... how could you betray me, my harp? Why do you judge every word I say?"

"Sounds like those are prisoners as well," Eilonwy said. "Shouldn't we save them as well?"

"Of course," Terra nodded. "It's the right thing to do. Just a moment..." She opened the door and found herself in a short corridor with two prison cells at its end. In one of the cells, she could see two elderly men that were chained to the wall. One of them was dressed in a wide robe and had a white, bushy beard, while the other one was holding a harp and was dressed like a bard.

"Great Berlin! What is a nice, young lady like you doing in such a place?" the bard asked.

Terra frowned. "I could ask you the same. But wait a minute, I'll get you out of there... Diamond Drill!" Using her drill, she first destroyed the cell door, and then the chains that were holding the two men.

The man with the beard rubbed his wrists. "Thank you, my dear! Now excuse me while I strangle this idiot..." With an angry glare on his face, he walked up to the protesting bard.

"Now, now, let's not be hasty here! We can still save her, can't we? There's enough time!"

"Save who?" Ranma asked. "Is there someone else trapped in the castle? Who are you anyways?"

"If I may introduce myself, I am Flewwddur Fflam, great minstrel of the..."

"Call me Tellah," the other man muttered. "I'm a sage. I've been visiting this world with a friend of mine because we were told that this is where we would meet a girl with a certain key... but then we met this bard, and everything went down the drain. Now Rydia is captured by this Horned King, while I had to listen to the endless sermons of this idiot's horrible voice..."

"Excuse me!" Flewwddur huffed. "I'll have you know that I've sung in the finest courts and..."

Another string of the harp snapped.

"Why? Why does everyone have to be a critic?" the bard wailed.

"Listen, we don't have time for this. We are on our way to save someone as well. Maybe we are in luck and your friend is in the same place as the pig. Now could you just come along?"

Just then, the others arrived behind her. "Ranma, what's taking you so long?" Akane hissed. "We'll be spotted if we keep this up..."

"It's too late," Leormon growled as he saw the Soldier Heartless that approached them from behind. "Here they are!"

Tellah stepped forth. "Well then, let us give them a proper greeting... BLIZZARA!" And from his hands, a freezing projectile came flying, freezing the first Heartless to the spot.

'So he knows some magic as well,' Akane thought while raising her Keyblade. Next to her, Taran did the same with his own, new sword.

"I really hope you know how to use that sword!" she said.

Taran gulped. 'I hope so as well...' he thought.


	9. Riku and the girls

"So, you are new to this world as well, aren't you?" Tellah asked as they followed Eilonwy through the secret corridor.

"How'd you know?" Sailor Terra wondered.

The sage smiled. "Hey, I know a Keyblade Master when I see one," he said and gestured at Akane's weapon.

"Why is it that everyone know about this except for me?" Akane grumbled.

"Well, there aren't many world that even know about the existence of other worlds," Tellah explained. "Actually, Rydia and I would have never come here in the first place, if our Gummi Ship wasn't shot down..."

"You have a Gummi Ship?" Kasumi asked in surprise.

"Yeah, it's hidden in the forest," Tellah nodded. "I think I managed to fix most of the damage, but just before I was finished, the Heartless attacked and overwhelmed us."

"Another world?" Taran said in awe. "And here I thought you just were from another kingdom..."

"Say, you must have come here via Gummi Ship as well," Tellah then said. "Isn't that right?"

"Well, sort of..." Akane said.

"Great! Then have you a few extra Gummi Blocks you could spare?"

"Oh, I think Nabiki will have a few spares," Kasumi smiled.

Eilonwy listened to the conversation of her companions for a while. She didn't understand half of what was being said, but to her, it seemed as if most of them were a bit kooky in the head. "Say, Flewwddur... don't you think they are a bit... strange? I mean, it's strange enough that an assistant pig keeper like Taran would willingly sneak into the Horned King's castle... or be interested in swords. But his companions and that old man... I mean... they somehow look like they don't belong here..."

"Indeed, their are wearing the most peculiar garments," the bard nodded. "Especially the red-haired lady... in my time, no girl would ever be caught dead in such a... revealing... outfit."

"I mean, they all seem to be good people, but... I don't know..."

Meanwhile, Tellah was clearing his throat. "Um... I really am grateful that all of you are willing to help me with this. I mean, after all, I am a complete stranger to you..."

"Aw, that's okay!" Ranma grinned.

"It's always a pleasure to help people in need," Kasumi smiled.

"Well, I'm new to this business, but I've heard that this is what heroes do," Akane shrugged.

"Is that so?" Tellah stroke his beard. "Truly, you must come from a community of exceptionally selfless individuals..."

Akane sweatdropped. "Oh, believe me, it's not like that," Akane muttered.

"Well, then I assume your parents must have been the role models for your commendable behavior..."

This time, it was Ranma, who sweatdropped. "Trust me, they ain't..." she grumbled. "Believe me, I don't think you'd ever want to come to where we live..."

"Well, at least it is good to hear that heroes like you exist in other worlds," Tellah sighed. "I've pretty much given up home after being chased off my own home world..."

"Oh my, what happened?" Kasumi asked.

"Our world was attacked by a dark individual... someone who was commanding the Heartless," Tellah explained. "We all know that the only one who could help us is a Keyblade Master... we already sent someone out, but he never came back... my friends and I managed to evade the Heartless long enough, but in the end, we couldn't wait any longer and prepared a Gummi Ship. In the end, only Rydia and I made it..."

The Nerimians looked at each other. All of this sounded way too familiar...

"That guy you've sent... it didn't happen to be a cat riding on a big, stuffed animal, or did it?" Ranma asked.

Tellah gasped for air. "Y-you met Cait Sith?"

"Why, yes!" Kasumi nodded. "He was the one who told us about the Keyblade and the Heartless."

"But... but his energy must have already run out by now," Tellah said.

"It did," Akane nodded. "He just barely made it to our world. He told me to find his home world... and I suppose that's the same place you come from?"

"That's true," Tellah nodded. "Although... you couldn't really call it a world. Actually, it's a very small place, drifting around through Interspace. I believe certain people compared it with a spacestation."

"But that's great!" Akane smiled. "Then we can come with you, after having saved Rydia and Taran's pet pig."

"Hey, I already told you, Hen Wen's not just any pig: She can see the future, that's why the Horned King has kidnapped her," Taran shouted.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that," Akane apologized. "It's just that I've never met too many pigs like that before... but I can understand why you are worried. If anything would happen to P-chan..."

"Oh, please!" Eilonwy sighed. "Don't tell me you're beginning to believe that as well..."

Ranma shrugged. "I've seen stranger stuff like that. Cursed springs, a master of disguise transvestite, a sentient battle suit... believe me, a future-seeing pig isn't the strangest thing in the world."

Tellah rubbed his beard again. "Truly, an exceptional world you must come from..."

"Here we are," Eilonwy then said and gestured at the wall. "Behind this wall lies the throne room."

Ranma pressed her ear against the wall. "Can't hear anything..." she said.

"Well, I plan to enter without knocking," Akane said. She looked at Eilonwy. "What do you say: Will this Horned King be a very difficult costumer?"

Eilonwy shuddered. "I'm not planning on finding out..."

"Well, I am," Akane said resolutely. She firmly grasped her Keyblade, opened the door and stormed into the huge room with a loud yell.

Kasumi sighed. "That's so like Akane..."

"Well, let's make sure she doesn't have all the fun by herself," Ranma grinned. "Let's get 'em!"

"Hen Wen, I'm coming!" Taran shouted and followed Ranma and Akane into the throne room.

But, it was empty.

The only person in the room was a young woman with green hair and a likewise green dress. Except for her, there was no one around.

"What a letdown..." Akane huffed.

Tellah came after them. "Rydia!" he shouted.

"Tellah!" Rydia smiled. "Am I glad to see you..."

"Wait, I'm getting you free," Akane said and with one swing of her Keyblade, the chains that bound the girl to the wall were destroyed.

"Thanks," Rydia said while massaging her wrists. "Now we should leave before..."

"You are not going anywhere," a ghostly voice proclaimed. Out of nowhere, the Horned King and his Heartless appeared.

"Dang, we're surrounded..." Ranma grumbled.

"Now, I suggest you do as I say... or you will die!"

"No..." Taran said. He shuddered under the glare of the Horned King. "I'm here for Hen Wen."

"Ah, so then you are the keeper of this clairvoyant... pig," the Horned King said and reached behind his back, pulling a squealing and struggling pig into the air.

"Hen Wen!" Taran shouted. "Yes, yes, I am," he nodded.

"Then tell him how to find the... Black Cauldron!" the king said with glowing eyes.

"I... I can't," Taran said. "I promised..."

"As you wish," the Horned King nodded. "Then this pig is of no use to me anymore..."

He held out his left hand, and his ugly henchman, Creeper, handed him a sharp knife, which he raised against Hen Wen's throat.

The little pig began to squeal in terror.

"No, don't!" Taran yelled.

* * *

"Why, hellooooo there..." the bow-wearing blonde grinned when she saw the handsome, white-haired boy in front of her. "What brings a cutie like you to Juuban park?" She giggled.

Riku sighed. "Why?" he murmured. "Why are all the girls living in this world crazy?"

The white cat standing next to the blonde girl sweatdropped. 'Minako's pickup lines are getting cornier by the day...' Artemis thought to himself.

"Well, I'm looking for someone..." Riku said. "A girl..."

"In that case, your search is over," Minako grinned. "You are in luck, because today, you have the chance for a date with the best-looking female single in town." She struck a pose. "So, what do you say, big boy?" She winked at him.

"You're such a flirt..." Artemis muttered from the corner of his mouth, just quiet enough so Riku wouldn't hear him.

Riku sweatdropped. "Um, actually, I had a special girl in mind..."

"Oh, I can show you how special I am," Minako purred, a sultry look on her face. "So, where do you wanna go? There's this nice cafe down the street..."

"HEY!" a loud voice yelled. "That's not fair, Aino! You've started without me!" The newcomer, an extremely angry red-head, came storming up at them.

Minako stuck out her tongue. "Well, your fault for not making it in time, Asuka! You know what they say: You booze, you lose!"

"THAT'S NOT HOW IT GOES!" Asuka Langley Soryu shouted. "I'm not like Misato... now stop hogging all the cute boys in town!"

"You're just jealous because I'm a better boy-hunter than you are," Minako giggled.

"Um, excuse me..." Riku spoke up.

He was ignored. "Better boy-hunter? Hah! You're just a bigger flirt, that's all. Every man who has at least a bit of taste knows that I am a much better choice than you will ever be..."

"Excuse me..." another voice interrupted.

Asuka and Minako turned their heads to the newcomer. "WHAT??"

The brown-haired girl in the pink and white top winced. "No need to yell, I just wanted to know if you've seen anything... unusual around here."

"Yeah, like, evil Digimon and stuff," her companion nodded.

Artemis' eyes instantly turned into hearts. "That's the most beautiful female I've ever seen in my life..." he murmured when he saw the bipedal cat standing next to the girl.

"Hey, aren't you one of those Digimon kids I've seen on TV?" Asuka wondered.

She nodded. "Yes, my name is Kari. I'm a Digidestined, and this is my partner, Gatomon."

"Hi there!" the feline Digimon smiled.

"And I know you as well," Kari said. "You're the Evangelion Pilot, Asuka Langley Soryu, aren't you?"

Asuka grinned. "Well, good to see I'm famous."

"And you know me as well, right?" Minako asked.

Kari looked at her for a while. "No, can't say I've ever seen you before," she finally said.

"Whaaaat?" Minako gasped. "But you HAVE to know me, I'm Sailor... OW!"

Noticing that his scatter-brained partner had nearly revealed her secret identity, Artemis had quickly scratched her leg.

Kari winced. "That had to hurt. Does he do that often?"

Minako rubbed her leg and glared down at her feline advisor. "No, only when he wants to really bother me..." she grumbled.

"Hey, I wanted to ask you something," Riku shouted, hoping that he would finally get an answer."

"Oops! So sorry, I didn't mean to ignore you, good-looking," Minako grinned. "Now, what kind of food do you prefer? Chinese or Italian? I know this awesome Okonomiyaki restaurant in Nerima..."

"Hey! Didn't I tell you not to hog all the boys?" Asuka yelled. "He's mine!"

"Not in your life, you half-German hussy!" Minako shouted.

"Oh yeah? At least I'm not some dumb bimbo with a ridiculous bow in my hair!"

"Say something about my bow again and I'm gonna kick you!"

Riku had enough of the two squabbling girls. He would never get the information from them, so he just walked past them and addressed the new girl. "Listen, could you help me further?"

"Huh?" Kari was surprised. "Are you talking to me?"

"Yes, I am. See, I'm in a bit of a hurry, and I've been wondering if you know where I can find a girl named..."

"Wh-what??" Asuka gasped. "Now he's interested in that girl? What does she have that I don't have?"

"A cute, white kitten, maybe," Minako smirked and picked up a surprised Artemis. "Hey, have you seen MY kitty? He can do tricks!"

Asuka was at Kari's side in an instant. "Listen, I don't care if you like him, if you don't even live here, you can't have him! I don't need another boy-hunting rival, I already have Minako..."

"WHAT??" Kari gasped. "N-no, it's not like that... I'm only here because there are supposed to be some strange creatures around here..."

"Well, this is Juuban, the Sailor Senshi will take care of it."

"SHUT UP, DAMN IT!!" Riku yelled.

Everything was quiet for a short while.

"I'm not interested in going out, okay?" Riku groaned. "I'm just trying to find someone, and her name is..."

"Ooooooooh!" Minako said in sudden understanding. "Now I've got it: The only reason why a cute boy like him would ever resist my advances is if he's... GAY!"

Riku blinked. She couldn't be serious, could she?

"I don't have the time for this..." he grumbled and turned around to leave.

He didn't come very far.

Out of nowhere, dark shapes appeared, forming a circle around Riku, the three girls and the two cats. They were black and had shiny, emotionless eyes.

"Those creatures again!" Kari, Minako and Asuka gasped in unison. They looked at each other. "You've seen them before?" they all asked.

'Heartless...' Riku thought. 'I didn't call them, and Maleficent told me that she wouldn't want to send anyone else... so, those are either wild Heartless under nobody's control, or...'

"Well, well, what do we have here?" an amused voice chuckled. "This must be my lucky day... three girls, all of them the right age, and all of them suitable for my experiments..."

A few Shadows in front of Riku stepped aside to reveal a blonde woman that was dressed in what looked like a ninja outfit.

'A new villain?' Minako thought. 'And I can't transform in front of their eyes, damn...'

"Who are you?" Riku asked.

The woman looked at him with disinterest. "Countess Arlene from Radiant Garden," she said. "Now get out of my way, I have no time to play with little boys..."

Riku let his Soul Eater appear in his right hand. "You don't know me, don't you?" he grumbled.

"Oh, I know quite a few things about you, but you are as interesting to me as a dung beetle, so buzz off!"

"Hey!" Kari shouted. "You can't talk to him like that!"

"Right, leave her boyfriend in peace!" Minako added.

Kari blushed. "Stop saying that..." she hissed.

"I'll be with you ladies in a minute," Arlene grinned. She looked back at Riku. "Now, be a good boy and get out of the way."

Riku raised his weapon. "I don't think so."

Arlene sighed. "Why must Maleficent's minions always be so stubborn? Fine, then... kill him!" she commanded, and the Heartless swarmed around Riku.

The girls gasped. "We have to save him," Kari said. "Gatomon, help him!"

"LIGHTNING PAW!" Gatomon shouted and flung the Shadows aside like bowling pins.

Asuka picked up a long stick and ran up to one of the Heartless that were attacking Riku.

"Leave him alone, I don't even know his address yet," she shouted and smacked the stick down on the Soldier's head.

It broke in two.

Asuka stared at the stub of wood she was holding, and at the Heartless, who had turned around to face her. She giggled.

"Heh heh... just kidding..."

"CRESCENT BEAM!" A golden beam of light came shooting out of nowhere and evaporated the Soldier.

"Nobody is allowed to disturb girls who are boy-hunting," she fuku-clad girl shouted. "I am Sailor Venus and I punish all that hinder me from getting a boyfriend..."

Asuka shook her head. It couldn't be... could it? That wasn't Minako. Well, she kinda looked like her, true, and she also acted the same as the annoying blonde, but...

Meanwhile, Riku had used his blade and his powers of darkness to destroy every Heartless around him.

Arlene shook her head. "I have no reason to fight you, boy! Why don't you just let me have the girls and I'll be on my way?"

'The girls?' Riku wondered. 'If she wants to have the girls, there must be something special about them. Does that mean... they are princesses? But... according to Maleficent, there are only seven. And didn't she tell him that a certain 'Usagi Tsukino' was one of the princesses he had to find?

But he couldn't take any chances. If at least one of those girls was a Princess of the Heart, he couldn't let this woman have them.

"The girls will come with me!" he firmly said and pointed the Soul Eater at her.

"Wh-what?" Kari gasped.

"I knew it!!" Minako cheered. "I'm irresistible!"

"Venus, your secret identity!" Artemis hissed.

"Oops, sorry..."

Arlene waved her hand. All around them, hovering beings with mist-like bodies and female faces appeared.

'Those aren't Heartless...' Riku wondered. 'But what are they?'

"I didn't plan on using my elite squad," Arlene frowned. "But you leave me no choice. Now, I'm giving you one last chance, boy... surrender them to me or face my wrath!"

Riku shook his head. "No."

"He's standing up for us," Asuka sighed. "He's so brave... much more than baka-Shinji..." she grumbled.

Riku didn't know anything about the opponents he was facing. And while he might be able to defeat them all, he couldn't risk the safety of the girls... and on top of that, they might get away while he was busy with his enemies.

So he did the only thing that came to his mind. He knelt down next to the girls, touched the ground... and a big, round portal of darkness appeared underneath them.

"Sorry, but we really have to go now," he smirked.

"Hey, what is this?" Kari gasped.

Gatomon flattened her ears and hissed. "I don't know, Kari... but somehow, I have a bad feeling about this..."

And then, Riku, Asuka, Minako, Artemis, Kari and Gatomon fell down, through the portal.

"STOP!" Arlene yelled, but it was already too late: The dark gateway was closing and disappeared.

"Well, what a waste..." the countess sighed. "Such splendid specimens... they looked like they could make excellent Soul Mates... oh well, whatever, I'm sure there are LOTS more of suitable girls in this world..."

She giggled.

* * *

Minako gasped when she landed next to what looked like a gravestone. Before she could get up, Asuka landed on top of her.

"Hey! Get off me!" she shouted.

Next to them, Gatomon landed on her feet and quickly caught Kari, who came falling after her. "I've got you!"

"Th-thanks, Gatomon..."

While Riku was still in mid-fall, he reached for the branches of a withered tree standing close by, swung around and landed safely on the ground, in a crouching position. He then slowly stood up, raised his weapon arm and let the Soul Eater disappear.

"Wow!" Asuka's eyes sparkled. "He's so cool..."

"Oh yeah? You're still sitting on top of me!" Minako grumbled and pushed the red-head away.

Kari looked around. "What is this place? How did we get here?"

"He saved us!" Minako grinned. "Our hero..."

Riku looked down at himself, then at the three girls. "Looks like we have changed..."

The girls suddenly noticed that he wasn't clad in the clothes he had worn before, but in a wide, dark cape. His face was also much paler than before... and were those fangs jutting out of his mouth?

Minako noticed that her Senshi fuku was replaced by a black witch costume, complete with pointed hat... and she even had a cat with her.

When she looked at Asuka, she had to suppress a chuckle. "Y-you look too silly, S-Soryu," she snorted and pointed at the red-haired girl... or rather, red-furred.

Asuka's hands reached up to feel the short muzzle in her face, and the wolf ears that were poking out of her hair. She yelped in surprise when a bushy tail brushed against her legs. "Wh-what happened to me?" she whined.

Kari chuckled. "Looks like you turned into a werewolf... obviously, we've all become some sort of Halloween creature. He... sorry, I don't even know your name yet."

"I'm Riku," he said.

"Okay, Riku looks like he's a vampire, you have turned into a werewolf, your friend..."

"I'm not her friend, okay?" Minako snapped.

Kari ignored that remark. "...now looks like a witch, and I..." She looked down and realized that she had become even paler than Riku, was now clad in a white gown that almost looked like a bed sheet... and you can't forget the fact that she was see-through. And floating above the ground. And where were her legs?

"A ghost..." she muttered. "I'm a ghost..."

"This must be a world that changes any visitor who isn't from here," Riku realized and looked around. He saw more gravestones, a round moon above a strange-looking hill and many pumpkins.

"Another world?" Minako muttered. "I don't want to be in another world... especially not one that makes me look like this..."

Asuka grinned. "I think it suits you. I always knew you were a witch."

"Oh yeah?" Minako grimaced. "Well, better a witch than a BITCH!"

The red-furred werewolf snarled at her in annoyance.

"Cut that out!" Gatomon frowned. "We have to find out how we got here." She looked down at herself. "And why haven't I changed, like the rest of you... and where are we, anyways?"

"I can answer that question," Artemis spoke up.

Asuka's jaw looked like it was ready to drop to the ground. "It talks..." she muttered.

Artemis' paw pointed at a wooden sign standing in front of him.

It read: 'Halloween Town'.


	10. Piggy Friendship

"Um, excuse me... but is this the way to Nerima?"

Ranma and the Tendos sweatdropped when they heard that phrase.

"It can't be..." Ranma groaned.

Creeper was so surprised that he nearly dropped his knife in shock.

The Horned King turned around. "Who are you?" he demanded to know. "How dare you trespass in my castle?"

Ryoga scratched his head. "Really sorry about this, but I must have taken a wrong turn in Osaka and..." He then suddenly became aware of several persons he knew. "Akane... is that you?"

"Ryoga, silly..." the youngest Tendo sighed. "How did you get here?"

The bandana-clad boy looked around. "So this isn't Osaka anymore?"

"This is an entirely different world, you moron!" Sailor Terra yelled.

Ryoga looked at her closely. "Uh... do I know you, miss?"

"Enough of this!" the Horned King bellowed. "Assistant pig keeper... this is your last chance! Tell the pig to show me where to find the Black Cauldron, or else..."

Creeper once again raised his knife with a grin.

A deep frown appeared on Ryoga's face. He knew how helpless little pigs could feel when faced with meat axes, mincing machines and kitchen knives. "Hey, put that thing down before you hurt anyone! Don't you see you're scaring the poor little thing?"

Creeper grimaced. "That's the idea behind it, you fool! What's it to you, anyway? This is just a stupid little pig!"

Ryoga had to disagree. Ever since he had acquired his curse, he felt a certain kinship with everything that squealed, snorted and had a curly tail.

He took his battle umbrella off his backpack. "You let go of it right now!"

Creeper giggled. "Or what, pathetic human?"

"Or I'll do THIS!" Ryoga yelled and threw his umbrella like a giant frisbee. Creeper yelped in surprise and raised his hands to shield himself from the sudden attack. But to do that, he had to drop his knife and Hen Wen. The little piggy quickly ran away.

"Get it, you fool!" the Horned King roared. Almost at once, all of the Heartless advanced on the helpless little animal.

"Oh no, you don't!" Taran shouted and slashed out with his sword. Whenever it sliced through a Heartless, it disappeared in a black puff of smoke, and a single, shining heart floated away through the darkness.

Creeper, intent on make up for his mistake, dove for the pig. "I've got it, Your Majesty!" he cried as he slid across the floor.

But just before he reached it, a sleek, yellow-furred shape came leaping across the room and snatched Hen Wen away.

Liomon landed safely out of the Heartless' or Creepers reach and put Hen Wen down next to Ryoga. "Guard it with your life," he growled and leapt back into battle.

Ryoga, confused that a talking lion had just left a small piglet in his care, scratched his head. "Um... sure! No problem!" He smiled down at Hen Wen. "Don't worry, little piggy, you're safe with me."

In the meantime, Ranma was busy bashing Heartless. "Crystal Hail!" she shouted and bombarded her enemies with a shower of razor-sharp diamond shards.

Akane was faced with two tall, lanky Heartless that resembled skeletal warriors, with various parts of armor hanging loosely from them. They were Emblem Heartless, as she could see on the now-familiar symbol on their broad foreheads.

With a battle cry, she twirled around her Keyblade and felt the familiar feeling of becoming one with her weapon. As long as she wielded it, she had nothing to fear from the Heartless.

Rydia and Tellah were fighting back to back. Tellah was using his black magic to hold them at bay, while Rydia was closing her eyes, chanting a summoning spell.

Then she opened her eyes. "I summon you! FAT CHOCOBO!"

In a puff of smoke, a giant, fat bird appeared in the air with a loud squawk, right above the Heartless that were approaching her... and then fell down with all his weight, burying them underneath his enormous behind.

Rydia grinned. "Nicely done, Fat Chocobo!"

The bird flapped his chubby wings happily before disappearing again.

The Horned King was furious. He managed to grab Creeper by his shirt and pulled him up from the ground. "Find the pig!" he growled and threw his servant across the room.

Bouncing off a Heartless' skull, Crepper soared through the air and then fell down, rolling across the stone floor. Dazed, he shook his head and saw the youth with the bandana who had caused him to drop the pig in the first place.

With a feral snarl, he pulled another knife from his belt. "GIVE ME THE PIG!" he shouted.

Ryoga pounded another Heartless against the wall and turned to face the little gnome. "In your dreams, shorty!" he shouted.

Crepper snapped his fingers, and out of nowhere, a big Heartless appeared. This one looked like a black steed, with blood red eyes and a similarly colored saddle on its back. Its mane was made of flames and it reared up with a loud whinny. Creeper jumped on his back and spurred it on. "Attack, Night Mare!"

Ryoga's eyes widened when he saw how the horse Heartless ran at him at full speed, leaving a trail of fire behind. He quickly picked up Hen Wen and leapt to the side. A wall of fire rose up where Creeper and his scary mount had dashed past.

The little creep turned the Night Mare around and snarled. "Stop moving, you bastard!"

Ryoga smirked. "Come and get me!" he yelled and ran out of the door. Creeper wasted no time and rode after him.

"Hen Wen!" Taran yelled as he saw how Ryoga carried his protege out of the room.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine," Terra told him with a grin. "Pigs are practically Ryoga's soulmates, ya know?"

"Ranma, stop teasing Ryoga!" Akane snapped. She fired a few fireballs from the tip of her Keyblade, and the last couple of Heartless disappeared. "So much for them!"

Taran turned around to run after Ryoga and Creeper. "Hen Wen!"

But suddenly, a force field of energy appeared in front of him, blocking off every exit of the room.

"You will go nowhere!" the Horned King shouted. "You have interfered with my plans for the last time. Now, assistant pig keeper, and all of your allies... now you will DIE!"

"Big words, scary guy!" Ranma shouted. "Did ya notice you're all by yourself?"

The Horned King took a look around. Taran, Akane, Sailor Terra, Liomon, Tellah and Rydia approached him from all sides. He smirked, as far as that is possible for someone with a skull face.

"My such a brave and handsome crew! An assistant pig keeper, a flea-bitten cat, a whore with magical spells, a wrinkled old man, a helpless little maiden and a girl who looks like she should rather be a cookmaid than a warrior!"

Akane gritted her teeth when he looked at her.

"Who's a whore?" Ranma yelled.

The Horned King ignored her. "I see no reason to put up with the likes of you..." he muttered. "I have other things to take care of... the Armsmaster will finish you off!"

"The what?" Akane wondered.

The Horned King made a gesture with his arm, and another, huge Heartless appeared. It was a tall humanoid, with a red breastplate that covered the upper half of his torso. It had six long arms and carried six different weapons with them: A long sword, a rapier, a javelin, a whip, a hand axe and an enormous mace.

"Dispose of them!" the Horned King commanded. "I have an appointment... with a pig..."

"No," Taran cried, but the king disappeared. The Armsmaster swung all of his weapons around at once and glared at the warriors threateningly.

Akane gulped when she saw the whirlwind of weapons. "This... doesn't look good..."

"The six of us against only one enemy?" Tellah smirked and charged up another spell. "Please, that's hardly a challenge!"

"No problem!" Rydia smiled and prepared another summoning.

Taran looked over to the door, which was still blocked by the energy field. "I still hope Hen Wen's all right..."

"Trust me, if she's with Ryoga, I don't think any bad guy will lay his hands on her," Ranma grinned.

* * *

Creeper rode through the castle's halls and corridors, on the back of his Heartless steed. He wouldn't want to admit it, especially not to his king... but he had lost the human boy and the pig.

"They... they can't be far..." he mumbled. "I'm pretty sure they are around the next corner..."

The Night Mare snorted.

Crepper hit the four-legged Heartless on the head. "You're no big help, you dumb horse!"

* * *

Ryoga frowned. He had just stepped into a wardrobe to hide from the creepy little dwarf, but when he came out, he was in a completely different place.

He looked down at the confused little pig in his arms. "Well, I don't think this is Osaka either, little buddy..."

He looked around. And saw himself surrounded by giant trees, colorful flowers and a huge assortment of other, exotic plants. He could hear the voices of birds, screeches of monkeys and even the deep growl of some predator in the thicket. Right now, he was standing at the edge of a wide river.

"Well... I'm no expert, but I'd say that this is the jungle..." he spoke up... only to be drenched with a sudden splash of water, when something big jumped into the river from the other side.

The big bear with the friendly smile on his face resurfaced. "Oh, sorry! Didn't see you over there, little guys..." And then Baloo leaned back and let himself being carried off by the gentle stream of the river.

He sighed contentedly. "This is life... just the bear necessities! Don't you agree, little guys?"

The black, bandana-wearing piglet looked at the surprised pink piglet sitting next to him and sighed.

"Bweeee..."

* * *

Taran grunted as he parried a sword stroke of the Armsmaster. "He's a good fencer..."

"Good maybe, but not good as us," Akane smirked while exchanging blows with another of the Heartless' arms, the one that was holding the huge rapier.

Liomon growled as the Armsmaster flicked his whip and tried to hit the four-legged Digimon. "Liomon, watch out!" Kasumi shouted with worry. But Liomon was able to dodge all of his opponent's attacks. "THUNDER OF THE KING!" he roared and shocked the Armsmaster's whip arm with his lightning.

Ranko and Tellah, in the meantime, were bombarding the Heartless with their spells, while dodging the javelins he was throwing at them, of which he seemed to have an infinite supply of.

"Look out, old man!" Ranko gasped when in the corner of her eye, she saw the enormous axe coming down on them. In the last instance, she threw herself in front of Tellah and conjured up her Diamond Drill. Blocking the axe blow with her indestructible weapon, she let the drill spin and turned the axe into a heap of metal fragments.

Rydia, on the other hand, had preferred to let somebody else do the fighting for her.

"Disciple of the burning inferno..." she murmured. "Let loose thy flames of fury! I summon you... Ifrit!"

With a mighty roar, a tall, devil-like creature with fur as red as fire and a pair of curved horns appeared in front of her. When the Armsmaster swung his mace at the young summoner, Ifrit effortlessly caught it and tried too wrestle it out of the Heartless' hand. After a short struggle, the summoning spirit growled and ignited his hands with fire, burning the Armsmaster's arm and the shaft of his mace.

With one skillful strike, Akane managed to knock the rapier out of the Armsmaster's grasp. She then dodged the sword and pinned it down on the floor. "Now, Taran!"

Encouraged by Akane's skills, Taran raised the magical sword high above his head, it glowed brightly... and when he brought it down on the Heartless blade, it got sliced in half.

When Liomon managed to rip his whip in half, Kasumi shouted: "He's unarmed now! Everyone, hit him with your hardest attack!"

"You got it, sis!" Akane shouted and aimed her Keyblade at the monster. "Fire!"

Sailor Terra invoked her Senshi powers. "Crystal Hail!"

Liomon added his own attack: "Thunder of the King!"

"Thundara!" Tellah shouted as he cast his own lightning spell.

"Now, Ifrit!" Rydia commanded. "Let him taste your Hellfire!"

The summoning creature roared loudly as he was engulfed with flames. Jumping at the Heartless, Ifrit let him taste the hotness of his fire. In one last, fiery explosion, the Armsmaster was hurled up into the air, then he fell back down, where he lay twitching on the floor.

Taran swung around his weapon with a sudden burst of resolve that nobody who knew the young assistant pig keeper would have thought possible. And once again, the magic sword lit up as bright as the sun as Taran pierced the Heartless' breastplate.

The Armsmaster twitched one last time, then he limply fell to the side, and his whole body dissolved, only leaving behind a gleaming heart that floated up into the darkness, where it vanished.

Akane sighed. "Well, that was one heck of a battle..."

"Aw, no problem!" Ranma grinned cockily. "I could have beaten him myself, but with you guys on my side, I just had to win!"

"Now, now, young lady," Tellah smirked. "I rather think that our victory was unavoidable, since we had the Keyblade Master on our side."

"Well, yeah, Akane can put that key thing to use," Ranma admitted. "But still I don't think she would have had it that easy if she didn't have my help..."

Rydia sweatdropped. "You say that was easy?" she murmured while dismissing Ifrit.

"Oh, that's just like you, Ranma!" Akane grumbled. "One time I manage to accomplish something, and you still want to depreciate what I did... you're such a macho jerk!"

"Hey, at least I'm not an uncute tomboy that can't cook!" Ranma said.

"Grrrrr... RANMA NO BAKA!"

Kasumi chuckled. "Oh, those two... they will never change."

Just as Akane was going to pull out Mr. Mallet, she saw something on the wall, just above the throne of the Horned King.

Tellah, Rydia and Taran looked at the bright light with awe. Eilonwy and Flewwddur were coming closer as well. "What... what is that?" Eilonwy whispered.

Tellah smiled. "Well, I'll be damned! I've never seen one of those before, but read much about them in the scripts of the Scholar... this is a Keyhole, my friends."

"Right, I already saw one of those back at our dojo," Akane nodded. She looked down at the Keyblade in her hands. "I think I know what to do..."

She raised the Keyblade and pointed it at the Keyhole. A bright ray of light came shooing out of its tip, and with a flash, it sealed the Keyhole. Afterwards, the Keyhole vanished back into the wall.

"What... what just happened?" Taran asked.

"The Keyblade Master sealed the Keyhole," Tellah explained. "Now the Heartless won't be able to engulf this world with darkness anymore."

"Yeah, but there might still be many left from when that Horned King summoned them," Akane assumed.

"And... and what about Hen Wen?" Taran asked.

"I'm afraid she could be anywhere now, buddy," Ranma told him. "With Ryoga in tow, you can never know when she's gonna show up again. But at least we know she's in good hands."

"That's right," Kasumi smiled. "Wherever she is, she is safe from that evil man... and should we run into Ryoga on our travels, we will tell him everything and bring Hen Wen back to you."

"Can't I... can't I come with you?" Taran pleaded. "Dallben entrusted me with Hen Wen... I can't disappoint him now."

"No, Taran, please, don't leave!" a certain, blonde princess suddenly shouted.

Taran looked back at her in surprise. "Eilonwy?"

"Please," she said. "I need your help. Flewwddur and I can't fight, and we need to stop the Horned King. He will still try to find the Black Cauldron, I'm sure of it. We have to find it before he does... it's the only chance we have."

"Hey, what if we take care of that guy now?" Ranma suggested. "We managed to beat his Heartless, and I'm sure we can take him on as well."

"Well... I'd like to help them," Akane said. "But... I promised Cait Sith to help his friends. So... as long as Rydia and Tellah aren't going to stay here..."

"I'm afraid we have to leave," Tellah said in an apologetic voice. "Our own friends are waiting for us as well, and if we wait any longer, I'm afraid the dark stranger who invaded our home world will do something horrible to our imprisoned comrades..."

"I guess I understand," Taran sighed. "Every world and its inhabitants must deal with their own problems, right?"

"I will come back," Akane said. "That's a promise!"

Taran smiled. "Well, I guess I will try to do my best even without your help... but thanks anyway, Akane!"

"I hate to be a bother," Flewwddur suddenly interrupted. "But I don't think we should stay here for much longer. Your victory might be a glorious one - and I will certainly write a ballad of your deeds - but since this is the Horned King's castle, we still are not safe from his wrath."

"Yeah, I'm kind of surprised myself that old skull-head didn't come to finish us off," Ranma grumbled. "I mean, he must have noticed that the pig is gone by now..."

"Let's not tempt fate, then," Tellah said. "Hurry, the exit is this way!"

* * *

The Horned King watched from the highest spire of his castle as the assistant pig keeper and his companions fled through the main gate. "It is against my nature to let my prisoners just leave like that," he growled. "Are you certain that the maiden with the key-shaped blade will not pester me any more?"

"Definitely," the black-robed woman next to him smiled. "And as soon as they are gone, you are free to concentrate on the boy and his friends... just let them find the cauldron for you, and you will have your army of Cauldron-Born in no time!"

"Why are you telling me this, woman?" the Horned King asked. "What do you expect me to do after I have found what I seek?"

"Simple!" the witch smiled. "When your army is complete, I will open the path to other worlds, so that your dark influence will spread to them as well. All I want in exchange is that your Cauldron-Born will help us to find the Keyholes... and the Princesses of Heart."

She had faith in her little puppet called Riku, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Very well... Maleficent," the Horned King grumbled. "But do not try to double-cross me... for my wrath will be horrible if I find out that you try to seek the Black Cauldron for yourself!"

"Please, I have never betrayed any of my allies before," Maleficent smiled. "And with so many Keyblade Masters wandering about, I can't afford a shortage of troops... double-crossing you would only be to my disadvantage."

'At least until I have found Kingdom Hearts...' the evil witch thought to herself and smiled. 'With the wisdom found in there, your precious cauldron will be nothing against me... as will the powers of a genie or the god of the Underworld... no, then I will be the ruling force in the worlds!'


	11. Legendary Creatures of the Depths

The parting between Akane's and Taran's teams was made short, since both groups still had an important mission to accomplish.

So while Taran, Eilonwy, Flewwddur - and possibly Gurgi, since Kasumi believed that the furry little guy still would try to stay near his 'friend' Taran - went to find some clues regarding the Black Cauldron, Akane, Ranma, Kasumi and Leormon returned to the crevice where Nabiki and the Evangelion Unit were still waiting.

"Our own Gummi Ship has a teleporter that brought us to the surface," Tellah said when they told him that they had landed on the surface of this world. "I'm surprised that there isn't such a device in your own ship."

"Well, we didn't really get many chances to learn much about these Gummi Blocks before we left," Akane explained. "All we learned was that we could effortlessly attach them to any existing surface and that there are certain kinds that we were able to use as a cockpit or as additional weapons."

"There's much more to them," Tellah said. "I may not be an expert... but I know that you could build a whole ship that's solely made of Gummi Blocks, all you need is an amount that's big enough, and some sort of Engine Gummi - although some weapons would be advisable, in case some Heartless are in your path."

"I suppose you can teach my sister Nabiki a couple of things when we get back," Akane said. "She's our group's technician."

Finally, they came back to Nabiki and the Eva Unit.

Rydia and Tellah, who had already travelled in a Gummi Ship, were astonished when they saw Unit 04.

"I've never seen such a... such a... vessel before," Rydia murmured. "It looks like a giant man made of metal... are you sure it can fly?"

"Definitely," Ranma nodded. "That tin can brought us here in the first place."

He winced when a soft, but big Gummi Block got hurled against his head. "I told you never to call my Eva a tin can again, didn't I, Saotome?" Nabiki shouted. She came out from behind one of Unit 04's legs. "So, you're finally back? I was starting to get worried."

"Worried?" Ranma smirked. "About ME?"

Nabiki frowned. "No, not really, Ranma, but about my little sister!"

"I know how to use the Keyblade by now, Nabiki," Akane grumbled. "I know how to take care of myself."

"Well, if you say so..." Nabiki shrugged. "So, who are your friends?"

"My name is Rydia," the young summoner introduced herself. "And this is my old friend Tellah."

"We saved them from some kooky king," Ranma explained. "We also ran into Ryoga. Oh yeah, and we found a Keyhole."

"Well, sounds like you had your fun," Nabiki said. "In the meantime, I learned quite a few things about these Gummi Blocks... you know, I actually managed to boost my Eva's speed by attaching some blocks to its backside... they sort of look like little exhaust pipes."

"Engine Gummis," Tellah explained. "The bigger they are, the faster they allow your vessel to fly."

"Right, that's what I figured," Nabiki nodded. A thoughtful expression then appeared on her face. "You know, I can't really take any more passengers along... the Cockpit Gummi is cramped as it is."

"That's not a problem, actually," Rydia smiled. "We brought our own Gummi Ship."

"And I was wondering..." Tellah said. "If you have a Curaga-Gummi for a cockpit, why don't you use its teleporter to get on the surface?"

Nabiki looked at him strangely. "I didn't even know there was such a device..."

"But it certainly would make landing on any world much easier," Kasumi smiled.

Nabiki was intrigued. Ever since she had become Dr. Akagi's personal assistant, in addition to having been elected to be Unit 04's pilot, she wanted to learn more about alien technologies. And while at first, she had concentrated on the Eva technology, AT fields and the like, these Gummi Blocks opened new, exciting possibilities for her. She was wondering what Dr. Akagi would say if she learned of the substance they were made of...

"Could you... teach me more about Gummi Blocks?" she asked Tellah.

The sage smiled. "I'm afraid I'm not really a specialist, that would be my friend Cid back in Balamb-Garden."

"Balamb... Garden?" Akane wondered.

Rydia smiled. "That's our home base! A resort for all people that are being chased by the Heartless... and also the new home of the fugitives from our old home world, Radiant Garden."

A deep frown appeared on Tellah's face. "Before it got swallowed by darkness and became the abomination known as Hollow Bastion..."

Akane was amazed to hear how many unknown worlds existed. "So... Cait Sith is from Balamb-Garden, too?"

"You could say that," Rydia nodded. "But remember, he really was a robotic doll that controlled by a human, one of our closest friends. His name is..."

Nabiki cleared her throat. "Can we discuss this on the way?" she impatiently asked. "I thought we still had a long way before we reach our goal."

"Yes, that's right," Tellah nodded. "Very well, let me show you how to use the teleporter first... and then, we will teleport back to our own ship, the 'Enterprise'."

"We will show you the right way to Balamb-Garden," Rydia said. "It can be a pain to find, but that's only because it's constantly moving. And after we get there, we will introduce you to the headmaster."

* * *

Tellah did not just show Nabiki and Akane how to activate the teleporter, but also how to use the communication system. With it, they could speak with each other, even if they were aboard different Gummi Ships.

The Enterprise was a ship that was only a bit bigger than Unit 04, and it was similarly shaped to a sailing ship, without the masts and the sails. It had been circling the orbit ever since Rydia and Tellah had left it. Rydia also introduced them to their own little mechanic, a strange little creature named Mog. He looked like a white teddy bear with purple wings and a red pompom on his head.

Kasumi smiled when she saw Mog's face on the screen of the communicator. "He's so cute."

"Thanks for the compliment, kupo!" Mog said. "Also, a mighty thanks for getting my pals out of there. I would have missed their company, seriously, kupo..."

"Mog is a Moogle," Rydia explained. "His kind had been living on Radiant Garden, in peace with the humans... but ever the Heartless appeared, they all were scattered across the worlds."

"But me and my friends are all working in Balamb-Garden, kupo," Mog explained.

"Another thing," Nabiki spoke up from her own Eva cockpit. "How long until we reach this 'Garden' of yours?"

"I guess a couple of hours," Tellah said. "Depends on how many Heartless ships we will run into on our way..."

"Oh well, at least the trip won't get boring," Ranma shrugged. He was now back to his male self. Rydia had been pretty surprised by his change, but she told him that she had seen weirder things.

About two hours had passed since they left, and they had already blasted a good amount of Heartless ships. Nabiki watched with interest when after the battle, the Enterprise extended mechanical arms that were attached to a pair of special Gummi Blocks and used them to collect several Gummi Blocks the destroyed Heartless ships had left behind.

"Osmose Gummis," he explained. "Always come in handy if you need a couple of more advanced Gummis for your ship."

"I want some of those..." Nabiki pouted.

Akane then noticed that Ranma was crouching in the back of the cockpit, looking intently on something small he was holding. He looked concerned.

She sat down next to him. "Hey, what's the matter?"

Ranma showed her his Senshi communicator. "I've tried to reach Usagi and the other Senshi," he explained. "But I can't get a clear signal... maybe these things just work in close range to our own world." He sighed. "I just wanted to let them know that I'm fine... still, I somehow feel like I have abandoned them..."

Akane was silent for some while. While she had friends as well, she had never been part of a team, and especially not a team as famous as the Sailor Senshi, the Digidestined or even the government organization known as NERV.

But what she, her sisters and Ranma were currently doing was something similar, wasn't it? She smiled when she realized that this was the beginning of something big. All of them had ventured off into unknown, dangerous places... Kasumi had gone into the Digital World, Ranma had joined the Senshi when they had entered Queen Nehellenia's dimension, and Nabiki had even entered a volcano in her Eva (alongside Asuka) to fight one of the Angels.

True, she didn't know what would happen to them, not even if they would return in one piece... but then again, they could always depend on each other. Her fiance was a powerful martial artist as well as a magical girl, one of her sister was the pilot of a huge battle mech, and her oldest sister had a Digimon companion that would always be on her side. And she... well, she was getting more and more comfortable while using the Keyblade in battle, and it almost felt as natural to her as using the martial arts her father had taught her.

"Ranma..." she said. "You may have left your friends behind... but I'm still glad that you decided to join me." She smiled. "And didn't Nabiki and Kasumi do the same? Nabiki left her fellow pilots behind to deal with the Angels. Kasumi left her fellow Digidestined behind. We all left our friends and family in Nerima behind. Heck, I'm even starting to miss Ukyo and Shampoo. But..." She stared out into the vastness of interspace. "Should we really miss this chance? There are so many different worlds out there, waiting for us... and if being a Keyblade Master means I have to visit them all, then I am glad that I was chosen. But, you know... I would have been a lonely job if you hadn't come with me..."

Ranma grinned. "Hey, that was pretty profound, Akane! Did the Keyblade turn you into a philosopher on top of everything?"

"Baka," she smirked.

"But yer right, I guess. I would have never let you go by yerself. Not after... um, ya know... after we're finally getting along so great with each other... I mean, what I wanna say is... I'm happy to be here with you."

Akane smiled and hugged her fiance. "Me too, Ranma! Me too..."

"Um, I really hate to interrupt your little tete-a-tete... but something's approaching us," Nabiki's voice spoke up from the communicator.

"Oh my, she's right," Kasumi said in a worried tone of voice. "It's coming from the left... and it doesn't look like any of the Heartless ships we've seen so far."

"It looks like a big, flying ship..." Akane muttered as she looked outside as well. "Even more so as the Enterprise... Tellah, what could that be?"

"I'm not sure..." the old man murmured. "But I know that several ships exist that have been normal sailing ships before, but that are able to fly in interspace without the help of wind or waves."

"Well, the question is: Are they friend... or foe?" Nabiki asked.

The flying ship was coming closer and closer, and they now could see that it was very strange in appearance... it almost looked like it was made out of organic materials instead of normal wood. The bow looked like the huge skull of a dead fish creature. The torn sails were fluttering as if an invisible wind was blowing through interspace. And it was fast. Very fast.

Leormon snarled at the incoming ship. "I don't like this thing..." he growled.

"Dear god..." Tellah then gasped. "My friends, I think I recognize this ship... and when I am correct, then more than our lives are in danger."

"Wh-why?" Rydia asked, surprised at the fear in her old friend's voice.

Tellah shivered. "It's the Flying Dutchman..." he whispered. "The ghost ship of Davey Jones..."

Ranma and Akane looked at each other.

"Who?" they both asked at once.

"I believe you're getting your answer," Nabiki said. "Look!"

On the Dutchman's deck, an assortment of strange creatures had appeared. They had the shape of humans, but they all had parts of different kinds of sea creatures growing on them. Kasumi gasped when she saw a man with the head of a hammerhead shark, and another one whose face was encrusted with barnacles.

"Oh my..." she muttered. She was horror-stricken. "Oh, oh my... that is so... so..."

"Abnormal?" Nabiki asked. "Yeah, that's what I thought, too..."

"Those things... they are not human, are they?" Akane whispered.

And then, another creature had appeared in their middle. It was a tall man, but with octopus tentacles sprouting from his chin, just as if they were a living, wriggling beard. His left arm looked like the claw of a crab. He stared upon the Gummi Ship and the enormous Evangelion Unit as if he didn't have to fear anything from them.

Even though Akane and her friends could not hear his voice, Davey Jones began to shout commands to his crew:

"Let no joyful voice be heard!" he yelled. "Let no man look up at the sky with hope! And let this day be cursed by we who are ready to wake... the Kraken!"

* * *

Within the Cockpit Gummi of Evangelion Unit 04, everyone was holding their breath as they waited for what the creepy pirates would do next.

Everyone except Ranma.

"Aw, what are you all scared of? It's just a bunch of silly-looking pirates, I say we go out their and beat them up."

"I hate to admit it, but Ranma has a point," Nabiki spoke up. "We are sitting in an Evangelion Uni, one of the most advanced weapons ever created on Earth, enhanced by Gummi Blocks - I can't believe I'm saying this..."

"Even with our help, you would have a hard time against Davey Jones, believe me," Tellah said. "His ship, the 'Flying Dutchman', is the most dangerous ship that has ever sailed through Interspace. I'm not sure even our ship, the Enterprise, could outrun him..."

"Well, then I think we should..." Before Nabiki could finish her sentence, however, something shook Unit 04 around.

"What... what was that?" Akane asked.

Up in her own Eva cockpit, Nabiki grimaced as she struggled with her controls. "Something has taken a firm grip on my Eva's arms," she said. "I can't break free..."

"What? Whatever could be big enough to grab an Evangelion?" Akane wondered.

"I can't see anything..." Nabiki said. "Tellah, can you tell what's grabbing us?"

"I... I see it..." came the nervous reply of the sage. "And I know what kind of creature has entangled you with its limbs... although I wish I wouldn't see it..."

"It's the Kraken!" Rydia gasped. "One of the legendary creatures of the depths."

"Huh? Doesn't sound too intimidating," Leormon grumbled. "And I've tangled with MetalSeadramon..."

Suddenly, something huge appeared in front of their cockpit. It was a tentacle... but it was certainly bigger than a regular octopus tentacle. One of its suckers alone was bigger than a human's head.

"That... that thing alone is as long as MetalSeadramon..." Leormon gulped.

"It must have crept up on you from down below..." Rydia muttered. "I don't think our lasers would even graze that monster... we are doomed..."

"Now just hold on a second!" Nabiki protested. "I'm not about to give up because of some big tentacle monster!"

Akane shivered. "Sis, stop sending images into my brain..."

"Here goes nothing..." Nabiki grunted and pushed forward. Her Eva's left arm actually managed to free itself from the Kraken's grasp. "I did it!" the middle Tendo cheered. "Now let's show that thing what years of battling Angels turned me into..." She reached for the big battle knife that was hidden within Unit 04's left leg and thrusted it into the tentacle that was entangling her right arm. The Kraken let out an inhuman wail as its tentacle flailed around. With both arms free again, Nabiki reached down to take her gun...

Only to have it wrestled out of her Eva's grasp by another tentacle. The Kraken made one small gesture, and the gun was flung into the distance, where it floated off.

"Dang! How am I gonna explain this to Akagi-sensei?" Nabiki grumbled.

"This... this doesn't look good..." Kasumi murmured when they saw how more tentacles wrapped themselves around the Eva's torso, effectively hindering them from moving at all.

"Aww, let me go out there, and I'll turn that monster into octopus dumplings!" Ranma shouted.

"Ranma, do us a favor and stop being an idiot," Akane grumbled. "You'd stand no chance against a thing that can take on an Evangelion Unit..."

"I doubt even WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon would manage to beat that thing with their powers combined..." Leormon gulped.

In the Enterprise, their new friends and allies watched the scene with horror. "We... we've got to do something, Tellah!" Rydia insisted.

"What can we do?" Tellah murmured. "It's one of the legendary creatures of the depths... you know what the stories say about them. No one that fells victim to them ever returns. You know what happened to the poor woodcarver from Twilight Town after he met the enormous whale, Monstro, right?"

"I wish Leviathan was here right now..." Rydia whispered. "Still, there must be something we can do... even though our lasers can't pierce the Kraken's skin, we could at least try to free our friends from its tentacles."

"Well... it's definitely worth a try," Tellah sighed. "Without the Keyblade Master's help, our world is doomed anyways..."

Davey Jones narrowed his eyes when he saw how the Enterprise turned around to aim its cannons at the Kraken.

"All right, you salty sea dogs!" he barked. "Let them taste the triple guns!"

"Aye aye, captain!" his monstrous crewmembers shouted back, and soon enough, a trio of huge cannons emerged from the Dutchman's front.

"Send their ship down to the depths!" Davey Jones yelled, and the cursed pirates opened fire.

Tellah and Rydia gasped when the Enterprise was bombarded by the shots of the Flying Dutchman. "We... we can't get a clear shot," Tellah grunted. "And when they keep this up, I'm afraid this will be the end for both us and our friends..."

"Th-that can't be!" Rydia protested. "I... I'll summon Ifrit! Or Shiva... or both! I'll..."

"You can't do anything..." Tellah whispered. "We've lost..."

"The enemy is not fighting back," Davey Jones' shark-headed bosun grinned.

"Keep firing until they are history!" Jones commanded. "You know what's at stake, so don't you fail me!"

"Aye, cap'n..." the bosun nodded. "Keep firing, men!"

'This is it...' Nabiki thought. 'I've done everything I could... and I definitely can't break free. I always knew I would meet my end in the cockpit of my Evangelion... but I never knew it would be in the fight against a mythological creature...'

"Mom... it was an honor to have fought with you..." Nabiki whispered. Unit 04 answered with a soft growl.

But then, in the darkest of all hours, when everybody thought this would be the end, another ship appeared in the distance.

"Sailing ship on starboard, cap'n!" one of the pirates shouted.

"What?" Davey Jones shouted as he ran to take a look himself. "Who would dare to approach us willingly?"

It was a sailing ship, indeed, but it looked much more majestic than the ugly tub the Flying Dutchman was. Curiously, though, it lacked any sails, but it still was able to move at an astounding speed. Unlike the monstrous crewmates of Davey Jones, the sailors they could see on board of that ship were completely human, including the purple-haired female that was standing close to the ship's bow, holding a cutlass in her hand.

But there was one thing that both this ship and the Dutchman had in common: On the top of the mast, a pirate's flag was placed.

Davey Jones snarled. "Who... is that?"

"I can't believe it..." Rydia whispered. "Tellah, we're saved... it's Captain Faris and her crew!"

"Bring the ship about!" the female pirate captain shouted. "Ready all cannons! We will send the Flying Dutchman back to where it belongs!"

Back on board of the Dutchman, the cursed pirates were taken aback when they saw how the other vessel prepared for combat.

"Your orders, cap'n?" the bosun asked.

"Leave the Enterprise be for now," Jones grumbled. "If those pirate wannabes desire death so much, we shall gladly give it to them."

"And what about the Kraken?"

"What about it? Let it crush that tin can and strangle those fools to death!"

Tellah and Rydia watched how Faris' crew was about to engage the Dutchman. "I wonder if they can actually defeat them..." she whispered.

"Well, we certainly can't help them," Tellah grumbled. "Those cannon shots have destroyed both our Fira-Gummis and Thundara-Gummis. We can't escape or fire, so we can't help either of our friends."

In the Gummi cockpit of Unit 04, the Nerimians were watching the battle between the pirates.

"What's going on out there?" Leormon wondered.

"Another pirate ship appeared and is battling the monster pirates," Akane explained. "They don't look as bad as them..."

"But does that automatically make them our friends?" Ranma asked sceptically.

"Well, only one way to find out," Kasumi smiled and activated the communicator. "Tellah, can you tell us anything about these new pirates that were so nice to come to our aid?"

"It's the ship of Captain Faris Scherwitz," Tellah explained. "Former pirates, they are now on our side and help us fight the Heartless or anyone who sides with them. Their nautical skills are legendary... although even I don't know how their ship can move like that..."

"Forget about that, can their cannons take on the Kraken?" Ranma asked.

"I don't think so," Tellah replied. "Even if they managed to drive the Flying Dutchman away, there's nothing much they can do against the Kraken..."

In the meantime, Captain Faris was watching how the tentacled monster was tightening its grip on the helpless Evangelion Unit.

"Captain, we've just received a message from the Enterprise," one of her crewmates said. "Sage Tellah's on board, and he said that none other than the Keyblade Master in in that strange-looking vessel in the Kraken's grasp."

"Then we have no other choice," Faris said. "Release him, now!!"

"But... but captain! We'd give up our mobility..."

"I don't care, it's the only chance we have! Only he can take on the Kraken! So get to it!"

"R-right away, ma'am..." the pirate stuttered.

Davey Jones was watching them from aboard the Flying Dutchman. "What in the name of the seven hells are they doing?" he grumbled when he saw how several crewmen ran up to several chains that were attached to the other ship's front side. "What is attached to those chains?" he muttered and walked up to the rail. He peered down into the depths. As usual, the lowest depths of Interspace was as black as a Shadow Heartless.

"Captain... something's stirring down there..." his bosun murmured.

Suddenly, a shrill screech echoed up from the depths as a long, serpentine neck came shooting up in-between both pirate ships. It was the most immense sea dragon Davey Jones and his crew had ever seen...

"Now shiver me timbers..." Jones growled. "I never believed that thing actually exists..."

"What... what is it, captain?"

"It's the only creature that could actually harm the Kraken," Davey Jones growled. "It's the third legendary creature of the depths... it's the Syldra!"

"Syldra, attack the Kraken!" Faris shouted.

The sea dragon screeched again and dove at the Kraken's main body, biting at its vulnerable eyes with its jaws. The Kraken was forced to let go of Unit 04 with a few of its arms to defend itself against Syldra's vicious attack.

"That's it! Good boy!" Faris cheered.

"What... what the heck just happened?" Akane asked.

"I'm not sure... but I'm definitely not gonna let this chance go to waste!" Nabiki shouted, freeing her left arm yet again and thrusting the knife into another one of the Kraken's tentacles. At the same time, Syldra bit into another tentacle that was wrapped around Unit 04's torso, and in the end, Nabiki managed to break free.

"That's it!" she shouted. "Now let's hope that cute little dragon-thing can hold the beast down until I've retrieved my gun..."

And she activated the Fire-Gummis on her back to fly over to where her gun was still floating freely through space.

"What?" Akane shouted. "Everyone's fighting for their lives, and you are worried about that gun?"

"Hey, you don't have to go back and explain to Dr. Akagi how you could have lost an invaluable piece of equipment," Nabiki grumbled. "Do you know how scary she can be when she gets angry? Besides, I think we need that gun to finish that thing off..."

"Well, you're the Eva pilot..." Akane shrugged.

"You got it!" Nabiki smirked. Then they reached the gun, and Unit 04 took it back.

"That's it!" Nabiki grinned as she hefted her weapon. "Get ready for SUSHI!"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Faris and Syldra are both from Final Fantasy V.


	12. A Nobody and her Heartless

"So... when do you think she comes back?"

Xadchiko looked over to the glass tank where her dark double was crouching. The Fallen Rose was pacing through its prison like a captured animal, and like an animal did she look up when the Nobody addressed her, curious, but also nervous, like a wolf that was facing its Alpha male.

"I know you can't talk," Xadchiko sighed. "And I don't expect any response. Still, at least I'm not alone in here... I know that there's someone else I can share my pain with... someone like me... Not those things that are nothing but soul shards." She glared at the tanks that contained the Soulmates, once again covered with thick blankets.

"But maybe I am just unfair... maybe they are all victims, just like us..." She shook her head. "What am I talking about? I am the Black Rose of St. Hebereke, I never am concerned about others but me and the family Kuno..."

She pulled her legs close to her body. "Maybe that woman is right... maybe I am not Kodachi anymore. And maybe those aren't really my emotions. I am just a shadow of what she was... I am just... a Nobody..."

The Heartless growled, and then it did something that surprised Xadchiko: It shook its head. Or did she just imagine it, did she become insane after being locked away in this dark cellar for days without food or sleep?

"You... you don't agree?" she whispered.

It was unmistakable: This time, the Fallen Rose nodded. It then gestured at Xadchiko with its vine-like arms, then at itself. And then, the black creature opened its mouth: "Ko... ko... daaaaaaaaaasssssssiiiiii..."

"Ko... Kodachi?" the Nobody murmured. "You are saying... we are Kodachi... both of us, together?" She then gasped. "But she said that Heartless only act instinctively. And it's easy enough to believe, looking at you... but still... you spoke? And you know what I'm talking about?"

The Fallen Rose tilted its head left, then right, and in the end, nodded.

"Well then, if we truly are both sides of the Black Rose... maybe Kodachi Kuno still can teach that insane person that a noble woman of the Kuno Clan isn't easily intimidated, huh?" She sighed again. "Oh well, big words, I guess, but we are still stuck in here... both of us."

The Fallen Rose approached the glass wall of its prison and looked at Xadchiko with its round, gleaming eyes. "Eeeessssssscaaaaaape..."

"Escape?" Xadchiko wondered. "But how? Do you see any locks or hatches on these glass tanks?"

The Fallen Rose did not say anything, but instead gestured over to the wall, where Xadchiko could see a small panel with several buttons. Now that she thought about it, Arlene had been standing pretty close to that panel when she had released the Soulmates...

"OK, I get it, to open our tanks, we have to press some of these buttons... but it's no use, we are trapped in here."

"Ssssssss..." the Fallen Rose hissed. At first, Xadchiko believed her Heartless was just scared or upset... but then, she realized that it was trying to say another word.

"Sssssss... ssssummmooonnnnnn..."

"Summon?" The Nobody blinked. She could not understand what her dark counterpart meant. "Summon what? Summon who? What are you talking about?"

"Ssssummooonnn... sssummon Nooooooobodiiiieeeeesssss..."

Xadchiko was baffled. She was a Nobody, she knew that now, but... what did the Fallen Rose mean with 'summon Nobodies'. Did it think that there were other Nobodies that could help them? Then again, did it think at all? It could speak, true, but it still acted like a trapped animal...

Then it hit her. Of course she could summon other Nobodies! She didn't know how, or why she hadn't realized it before, but... those powers slept deep within her. Every Nobody that was able to keep its human form and capability of speech was able to control an amount of Lesser Nobodies... and she could call upon their service whenever she wanted.

It was part of what she was now, so why did she not make use of it?

Xadchiko closed her eyes and concentrated. Yes, she could feel them. Nobodies, similar to her, but not with a strong enough will to keep their human appearance. They were still like her, rebellious, proud and cunning... and since they were Lesser Nobodies, they were seeking a leader... someone who was able to guide them, to give their pitiful existence a meaning.

Xadchiko could feel how they surrounded her, white, faceless and emotionless, but every single one a cunning, formidable and noble soldier as she was.

"I call upon your help, my loyal followers," Xadchiko murmured. "From this day on, you will serve me. Our enemies shall fear us... the noble warriors we are, we will fight for the right thing. And you will serve... as my loyal knights!"

She opened her eyes, and there they were. Their faces covered with white masks and their heads covered with curious-looking helmets that were tipped with long, white tendrils. They didn't carry any weapon, but Kodachi knew they were able to create any weapon they desired. They were all waiting outside of her tank, awaiting their orders.

"What to call you, my loyal knights?" she wondered. "I need a special name, a name that people will keep in mind..."

"Ooooooohhh..." the Fallen Rose groaned. "Ooooohhhhniooooonnnnn... Ooonnioonnnn Kniiiightsssss..."

Xadchiko blinked. "What are you saying? Huh? I guess their helmets are shaped somewhat like an onion, but... I don't know... That really is no name to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies."

But before she could come up with a name of her own, the knight standing in front of her tank knelt down, and she could hear words in her head...

'My Lady... give us your command! The Onion Knights are awaiting your orders...'

Xadchiko's eyebrow twitched. "They really have accepted that silly name... oh well, it's not too bad, I guess... Well then, as my first order, I command you to go over to that panel and... press one of the buttons."

The Onion Knight leader turned around and shuffled over to the control panel. He pointed at the buttons and looked back at his mistress.

"I don't know which one," Xadchiko grimaced. "Just try one of them!"

The Onion Knight nodded and looked at the panel. He raised his right arm (which really was one elongated tendril attached to his body) and pressed one of the buttons.

Almost immediately, the glass tank containing the Soulmates opened... and the female spirits came floating out, attacking the Nobodies with their sharp claws.

"It just had to be that one..." Xadchiko groaned. "Defend yourselves! Show them that a true knight won't back down. If they desire a fight and don't know anything about the meaning of gratitude, don't show them any mercy!"

The Nobodies leapt into battle, their arms twisting and morphing into a wide arsenal of weapons. Xadchiko could see swords, big axes, thin rapiers, long lances, bows and arrows, kunai that were thrown with deadly accuracy and enormous clubs that were swung around like baseball bats.

The Soulmates didn't stand a chance against Xadchiko's order of Onion Knights.

"Well done, my loyal vassals," Xadchiko smiled when the last Soulmate dissolved into mist. "Now go back to the panel and get us out of here."

The commander did as he was told, and soon enough, both tanks containing Xadchiko and the Fallen Rose opened.

Xadchiko came walking out of her tank. "Good job! That is all, for now!"

The Onion Knight leader lowered his head. 'Call us whenever you need help, and we will come to your aid, my Lady!'

And then, they disappeared.

Xadchiko looked at her Heartless counterpart. "Well, you are not as scary as I thought, and quite tame... but that is because we are two sides of the same coin, isn't that right?"

The Fallen Rose nodded and rubbed its head against the Nobody's legs. It then stared over to the stairway. "Freeeeee..."

"Yes, my dear, we are free... but we should not become careless. Even if that wench Arlene is not at home, she most definitely has put up some guards, possibly the same general woman that brought us here... Now, come along, and keep your eyes open!"

The Fallen Rose grumbled, then it followed Xadchiko on all fours.


	13. Scary girls

Artemis took a look around. "This place... it looks creepy."

"What, really?" Minako asked. "What tipped you off, the gravestones, the grinning skulls or the pumpkins? Actually, the pumpkins are kind of funny..."

Gatomon shuddered. "Well, not to me..." It reminded her of how casually Myotismon had murdered Pumpkinmon...

"You know, somehow, this place reminds me of Halloween," Kari spoke up. "I mean, it certainly matches with our new looks, doesn't it?"

"I still say this place is creepy..." Gatomon muttered.

"Ah, don't you worry, if you are scared, I'm always here to protect you," Artemis grinned.

Gatomon frowned. "No, thank you!"

"Say, um, what was your name again?" Kari asked.

"Riku," the currently pale-faced boy replied.

"Right, Riku, do you know where we are?"

Riku hesitated. "I... don't know this place."

'I can't let them know I've been here before,' he told them. 'If they know I know guys like Oogie Boogie, they will never trust me...'

"Well, then I guess we have to find out ourselves," Minako sighed. "What do you say, Asuka?"

But the red-furred werewolf girl turned her back to the blonde. "I'm not talking to you..." she growled.

"Hey, who stepped on your tail?" Minako wondered.

"Why did you never tell me you were one of the Senshi?" Asuka barked and sounded almost like a real wolf.

"Hey, we can't just tell anyone our secret," Minako tried defending herself. "I'll have you know that we are carrying a great burden with our responsibility. We are destined to protect Earth and ensure its future, you know?"

"So what?" Asuka snarled. "Everyone knows I am an Evangelion Pilot, and that girl and her friends are widely known to be the Digidestined... why can't you magical girls stop being so paranoid and let the public know who you are? Besides, all you do is fighting a bunch of weak zombie-creatures... you wouldn't be able to do anything against a real threat for humanity like an Angel."

"You know, fighting evil Digimon isn't exactly easy either," Kari pointed out.

"But you aren't doing any of the fighting, are you?" Artemis wondered. "I mean, it's your partner who does all the fighting, isn't that true?"

"To your information, Kari gives me strength whenever I'm in battle," Gatomon shouted at the male cat. "I wouldn't even be able to digivolve without her. Unlike you, i'm not just a cute-looking mascot!"

"I'm not a mascot," Artemis replied in an offended tone of voice. "I am a royal advisor. Without my guidance, the Senshi would be lost."

Minako snorted at that comment.

"Royal advisor?" Asuka frowned. "Where is this royalty you speak of?"

"That would be me," Minako said proudly. "You are in the presence of the princess of Venus!"

"Hah, maybe the princess of dumb blondes," Asuka shouted.

"Hey! You take that back! You can't do anything without sitting inside Optimus Prime's ugly cousin!"

"Say one more thing against my Eva Unit, and I'll scratch out your eyes!"

"Um, if I may say something..." Riku spoke up.

"NO!!" Asuka, Minako, Gatomon and Artemis shouted at once.

Kari sighed and floated over to his side. "Don't worry, just let them yell at each other a bit. Given some time, they will get tired of it. Say, Riku... can I ask you a question?"

Riku looked at Kari's ghostly form... and his eyes widened.

Kari blinked. "What? Do I have something on my nose?"

"N-no," Riku stammered. "It's just, you... you look like someone I know."

"Oh... wow, what a coincidence." She then smiled. "Is she a nice girl?"

"Oh yes," Riku sighed. "Yes, she definitely is..."

Now that he was being reminded of Kairi, he wondered if Maleficent was really speaking the truth and there was a way to save her.

"That's good to hear," Kari said. "Well, about my question... I was just wondering... How did you do it? Bringing us here, I mean?"

Riku was taken aback by that question. "What? I... I don't know what you are talking about..."

"Ah, c'mon," Kari said. "I'm not blind, you know? I have seen your hand gestured when that dark portal thing opened. I haven't met any wizards or whatever you are before... but I have fought enough evil Digimon to know when someone is about to use his special powers." Looking over to Minako, she asked: "Are you something like a Senshi? There are reports about this caped guy that always shows up whenever the Sailor Senshi fight a monster..."

"I am not... like her," Riku replied.

"Then how did you do it? More important, if you don't know this place, how did we end up here? I'd really like to know the name of this place..."

"YOU KNOW WHERE YOU CAN PUT YOUR EVA?" Minako yelled at that moment.

"Why, you..." Asuka growled. But just as she was about to raised her fist, she stopped herself. Her canine ears twitched.

"Aw, what's the matter, Langley? Scared I could beat your fuzzy ass?"

"Would you be quiet for once?" Asuka growled. "Did you hear that?"

Minako pricked up her ears. "I don't hear anything..."

"No, she's right, Minako," Artemis muttered. "I hear it, too..."

"Footsteps..." Gatomon whispered. "Footsteps that are slowly coming closer..."

Asuka sniffed and grimaced. "And this smell... did someone hid a rotten corpse around here?"

"Well, duh!" Minako said. "This is a graveyard."

"No, I mean, much closer... almost as if it's right behind... us..."

Asuka blinked when she saw how her companions stared at something behind her. She shivered when she felt something thin an bony slide along the back of her neck...

"What... what is it?" she whispered.

And then, the laughing form of the big skeleton leapt in front of them. "BWAHAHAHAHAAAAAAH! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!"

The girls yelped in fright, and Asuka felt how her tail automatically tucked itself in-between her legs. Artemis looked like he was ready to faint.

The skeleton laughed again, but it sounded amused instead of intimidating. "You should have seen the looks on your faces. I still got the touch, it seems... But, no need to worry, in the city of spooks, every scare brings a smile on our faces, isn't that right?"

After Kari's heart stopped pounding (Did ghosts have hearts, she wondered), she calmed herself down enough to take a closer look at the weird creature. He didn't look as frightening as he did when he stepped out of the shadows. "Who... who are you?"

"I am... Jack Skellington, Pumpkin King and Master of Spooks!" The skeleton spoke with elaborate gestures. "I welcome you... to Halloween Town!"

'Just great...' Rikue mentally sighed. 'That's all I need... Oogie told me of this clown. He can't know who i'm working with, or I'll be in trouble...'

"Halloween... Town?" Minako wondered.

"That's right," Jack nodded. "It's still some time until Halloween, but there's still so much to prepare... unfortunately, our original plan to use dancing Heartless did not quite work out as I hoped... but I have many ideas we still can use."

"So... this town... likes to celebrate Halloween?" Gatomon asked.

"Likes?" Jack laughed. "My dear kitty, we ARE Halloween!" He spread his arms. "Without us, Halloween as it is would never exist in the first place. Trick or Treat is our very way of life! Say, you aren't from here, are you?"

"How did you know?" Kari wondered.

"Well, you don't look like the regular Halloween Towner... you remind me of a friend of mine, Sora! Have you ever met him?"

'Him?' Kari wondered. 'Then he can't mean the Sora I know. I would be surprised if she knew a place like this and never told us...'

Riku on the other hand, realized what this meant. 'So, Sora has already been here... I wonder... Oogie Boogie certainly must have tried to lure him into a trap... but since Sora obviously left Halloween Town unharmed, it means that Oogie must have failed. I wonder if Maleficent already knows about this...'

"We don't know anyone called Sora," Riku said. "We came here by accident and..."

"Oh, that is unfortunate," Jack said. "But why don't you stay for a while and take a look at what we are preparing for next Halloween? It will be a screamer, I'm telling you!" He chuckled.

"Well, we really don't know how to get back home... so why not?" Kari shrugged.

Asuka frowned. "Isn't Halloween for kids?" she grumbled.

She shivered when Jack put his bony fingers on her shoulders. "Ah, but my dear werewolf... don't tell me I didn't manage to give you the same fright as your friends."

Asuka grimaced. "I... I wasn't scared," she proclaimed.

"Oh, you SO were..." Minako giggled.

Jack took a watch out of his pocket. "Oh, look at the time! I wanted to meet with the Mayor and show him the newest plans... but why don't you go and ask Sally if she can give you a tour? She'll be happy to help. I think she's at the professor's place..."

"Okay... and how do we get there?" Gatomon asked.

"My dear friend will guide you," Jack grinned and whistled.

Almost instantly, a ghostly figure came floating forth from one of the graves. Artemis yelped and hid underneath Minako's witch dress.

"Get out of there, you pervert!" Minako shouted. "And what's your problem?"

"Th-th-that's a dog..." Artemis muttered and gestured at the flying spectre in front of them. "A GHOST dog!"

"I don't know, I think he's kind of cute," Kari smiled.

"You don't have to be afraid, Zero won't harm a fly," Jack promised. "Now, Zero, I want you to bring our guests to Sally... can you do that?"

The ghost dog with the glowing nose barked once and then flitted away, into the darkness.

"Follow him, he knows the way," Jack told Riku and the girls. "As for me, I'm sure we'll see each other later. Well, have fun!"

'At least I was lucky and Oogie never told him of me,' Riku thought as he followed the girls, cats and the ghost dog. 'Now all I have to do is to wait until my powers have recharged themselves... then I will try to bring us to Hollow Bastion once more.'

Kari turned around and smiled. "Riku, you coming?"

Again Riku was reminded of Kairi's face whenever she smiled at him. The resemblance between the two girls was more frightening than all of Halloween Town...


	14. Waiting for a miracle

Davey Jones watched how the distance between the Flying Dutchman and his prey was getting bigger and bigger. The Kraken had already vanished in the dark, deepest depths of interspace.

They had lost. For the first time EVER in history, the Dutchman had been driven away by its enemies. Not even the Kraken, the most dangerous sea creature that had ever lived, was enough to stop them... not as long as the other sea monster, Syldra, was fighting on their side.

"Captain Faris..." the cursed captain grumbled while his pincer-like hand shook with rage. "One day, your little worm of a dragon, as well as you and your crew, will meet the end you deserve... as for you, little Keyblade Master... know that I will never forget this day... never!"

When the other ships were finally out of view, Jones turned around. "You!" he shouted at one of his men who was busy on deck.

The nervous sailor stood up in front of his captain. Half of his face was encrusted with barnacles, but unlike most of the other crew members on board, his body still seemed more human than them. "Y-yes, sir?" he asked nervously.

Jones came close to the man's face and stared into his eyes. "That pirate captain... you know her well, don't you?"

'Bootstrap' Bill Turner gulped. "I... I have never seen her in my life, captain!" he claimed.

"Is that so?" Davy Jones grinned. "Well, maybe, but you know who she is, don't you? Your little son is back on the world that is our home, before darkness swallowed all of it... and he never learned that his father became a pirate, right? But... there's something else he never knew, isn't that true... Mr. Turner?"

Bootstrap tried not to look into his captain's eyes. "I... don't know what you are talking about, captain..." he muttered.

"Oh, really?" Jones huffed. "Then I must have mistaken her for another girl of the name 'Faris Scherwitz TURNER?'"

"That's not true!" Bootstrap Bill shouted. "She is from another world, the daughter of King Alexander Tycoon, who was lost at sea when she was a small child."

"And how would you know about this?" Jones grinned. "If not for the fact that a certain, young sailor named Turner found her, lost on sea, one stormy night? Yes, I know everything about her story, Mr. Turner... she is one of the girls that were kidnapped by the Heartless, who were searching for the Princesses of Heart... and since little Faris wasn't the one they were looking for, they abandoned her in another world. Heartless aren't very smart creatures, are they? They couldn't tell the difference between that ocean and the one she had come from... So, when you found her, you adopted her and made her the older sister of your own son, William..."

"NO!" Bootstrap shouted. "That's not true!"

"I know you want to protect her," Davy Jones smiled. "But that won't help her... for her fate is already sealed. But, don't worry... like all captains, she will be given a choice. And maybe, if she is just like her adoptive father, she will answer my question with 'Yes!'" He chuckled. "You know which question I am going to ask her, right?"

"Yes... yes, I do..." Turner whispered.

"I knew you would," Jones nodded. "I will ask her: 'Faris Scherwitz Turner... do you fear... death?"

And with an evil chuckle, the monstrous pirate went inside, to the captain's cabin, leaving Bootstrap Bill behind, full with worry about his adoptive daughter.

"Calypso, goddess of the sea..." he murmured. "We might not be sailing across the sea anymore... but as long as your servant, the mighty beast Syldra, watches over my daughter, I know you won't let any harm come to her..."

Now the only thing he had to deal with was the guilt that he had never told his son the truth... about being a pirate, and that he had a sister.

* * *

A small group of five people were huddled in a dark corner. One of them, a dark-haired woman, looked out from behind the tree they were hiding behind.

A couple of Heartless Soldiers were patroling along the dirty path close by, accompanied by a Large Body.

She quickly pulled back her head. "They haven't found us yet," she whispered. "Let's wait until they are gone, okay?"

Her companions nodded, and so they waited until the Heartless had left the huge hall that looked like a greenhouse, or rather like a park within a building.

Two little girl sighed with relief. "Hiding in the Training Hall was a good idea, Rinoa," one of them said.

"True, in no other area of the Garden are as many hiding places as here," a young man with a bandana around his head nodded.

"Still, it is just a matter of time before they find us," Rinoa Heartily replied. "We were just lucky... and they are being lead by an intelligent man. Also, they have captured Reed, which means his plan has failed... his little doll didn't manage to find the Keyblade Master after all."

"I think we have to have a bit more faith in Cait Sith," one of the two small girls, a blonde who was carrying a paint brush in her belt, said. "He might have already found the Keyblade, and maybe the master is on his way here."

"Don't you think you're a bit too confident, Relm?" the other, blue-haired girl huffed. "What are the chances that a mysterious saviour will show up here?"

"Are you saying we should give up, Eiko?" Relm asked.

"No, I'm just saying that we should be realistic," Eiko shot back.

"Now, now, girls, don't fight!" the young man said. "And remember what we promised Reed and Celes the last time we saw them... we won't give up until the very end... and most importantly, we have to protect the headmaster."

"Well, I certainly feel safe with you youngsters around," a middle-aged man with a slightly pudgy stomach and a pair of glasses said with a smile. "But while I appreciate your help, Locke, you really don't have to endanger yourselves just to protect me..."

"Don't say that, headmaster!" Rinoa protested. "If you are captured, all of Balamb-Garden will be lost."

"But what can we do?" Eiko whimpered. "All of our friends have been caught... and you know what they did to Celes, don't you?"

"We need to stay hidden," Rinoa said. "The Garden can't stay here for all eternity... sooner or later, we will have land on some world to fill up our fuel. And if our Keyblade Master hasn't arrived by that time... we will try to break as many of our friends out of prison as we can, and then we escape. We might... have to give up the Garden."

"Master Ansem would be pained if he knew how this place of wisdom he created is being taken over by evil," the headmaster sighed. "Still, he was wise enough to give the Garden the ability to fly through interspace."

"It didn't help us much, did it?" Locke grumbled. "Yes, we were able to flee from Radiant Garden and Maleficent... but only to get attacked by another madman."

"We still promised Celes not to give up," Relm said. She raised one of her brushes and smiled. "After all, my walking pictures have fooled the Heartless more than once, right? Eiko's spells can help if one of us is injured..."

"Well, that is true..." the blue-haired girl murmured.

Relm smiled. "And Locke can always sneak into the kitchen and steal some food for us."

"I PREFER the term 'treasure hunting'..." the young thief murmured.

"That reminds me, we are short of provisions, Locke..." the headmaster spoke up. "If you would..."

"Okay, I understand... I'm on my way," Locke sighed. "Still, even the kitchen will be empty at one point... and then what?"

"Let's just hope our attacker needs to eat and drink as well," Rinoa murmured. "I mean, maybe he isn't even human..."

Eiko frowned. "He looked like a human to me."

"Looks can be deceiving, kiddo!" Rinoa smirked and ruffled the young summoner's hair. "I already learned as much, even back when we were still living in Radiant Garden..."

"I miss my home..." Relm sighed. "And grandpa..."

Eiko smirked. "I'm betting Rinoa is missing Squall... right?"

Rinoa blushed. "N-now don't start talking like that. That isn't a topic for children..."

"You're just embarrassed because you don't wanna talk about it," Eiko smirked and stuck out her tongue.

Locke sighed. He knew who he was missing... and one of these persons was now under the control of their enemy.


	15. Pigs in the jungle

"So, um... you agreed to help that Horned King guy?" Pete asked his female superior.

"Why so surprised?" Maleficent asked. "It isn't the first time I allied with... people... who shared the same interests as I."

"Same... interests?" Pete scratched his head. "What interests?"

The evil witch smirked. "The soothsaying pig, of course!" she explained. "With such a tool at our disposal, it will be much easier to find out just what it is the mistress of those 'Soulmates' is planning to do."

"Oh... so you actually believe that this pig can, you know... see the future?"

"No doubt about that!" Maleficent proclaimed. "And while the Horned King will do anything in his power to find his world's Keyhole for us, we will find the pig for him... of course, as soon as we found it, we will keep it for ourselves..."

Pete chuckled. "I say it again, I like your style, Maleficent! But, um... where should we start searching?"

"My darling pet Diablo already found out on which world the pig and the boy who stole it have appeared on," Maleficent said, stroking the head of her loyal raven. "You will leave right away and bring it back to me, understood?"

"Um, me?" Pete wondered. "Are you sure I'm the right guy for the job? Why not ask that boy, Riku?"

"Riku is currently on his own mission," the witch frowned. "And a very important one at that. And I hope for your sake that you will do as good as he..."

"Oh, sure, no problem, I'll get right to it," the bulky henchman quickly saluted. "Not a problem at all! Um... but say... what world did they appear on?"

Maleficent smiled. "The Tropical Paradise!"

* * *

"This is just my luck..." Ryoga grumbled as he wrung out his wet bandana. "Lost again, and this time in some sort of jungle... stuck with a piglet I just had to save..."

"Aw, but I'm really happy that you saved me," a sweet, high voice spoke to his right.

Ryoga perked up his ears. Then he looked right to see whoever had just talked to him. But all he could see was little Hen Wen sitting right next to him.

"Great..." he sighed. "Now I'm hearing voices..." And he rubbed his temples.

Which was when he saw the pig's trotter attached to his leg.

"Bweeee?" he squealed. "What's going on! If I'm still a pig... how can I talk?"

"The same way I can talk, I suppose," Hen Wen said with a giggle. "I admit, it's pretty strange... but at least, I can thank you for your help this way."

"This is too weird..." Ryoga grumbled. "Even weirder than the stuff I usually get involved in..." He shook his little porcine head. "Say, um..."

She smiled. "My name's Hen Wen!"

"Right, Hen Wen... do you know where we are?"

The piglet shook her head. "Nope. But I can try and find out, if you want to."

"Find out?" Ryoga wondered and scratched his head with a hoof. "How?"

"By looking into the future, of course!" Hen Wen giggled. "Just lemme look into the water..."

"Oh, of course!" Ryoga groaned. "Just look into the future, easy as that..."

"It's true," Hen Wen insisted, feeling a bit insulted. "I am a soothseeing pig, after all."

"Oh, if you say so... but say, if you're really looking into the future, can you also tell me if I'll be able to find some hot water in the closer future?"

"Well, I'll take a look," the pink piglet said as she walked closer to the river's edge. "Let's see... hummmm... it's a bit hard to do it this way, you know? I'm used to see the future in a water bowl, with the water inside being spun around by Dallben... but maybe it will work like this, too."

"Well, helloooooo there..." a voice above them then spoke up. "What are two little piggys like you doing in the jungle?"

Hen Wen gasped in surprise when all of a sudden, the face of a big, hairy orangutan appeared in front of her. "Wh-who are you?"

"King Louie, king of the swing and all-around major monkey around these parts," the ape grinned while hanging upside down from a branch. "And I suppose you have come from the human village, ain't that right? Got yourselves lost in the jungle, haven't you, little ones?"

"Well, I AM lost..." Ryoga admitted - which was nothing new for him. "But I'm not..."

"Great!" the ape shouted while clambering from branch to branch, using his long arms, until he was hanging down right next to Ryoga, this time right side up. "I mean, it's not great, of course, but I mean that I know this jungle like the back of my hand."

"Well, that's great," Hen Wen smiled. "So can you tell us the way out of here?"

"Sweetie, there's not much I can't do," King Louie chuckled.

Ryoga was getting annoyed with the orangutan's silly antics. "So... will you tell us already or not?"

"Chill, out dude! Just relax!" Louie grinned. "Here, have a banana!" And he grabbed one of the yellow fruits with his left feet and pressed it once, causing the banana to come shooting out of its peel... and right into P-chan's little piggy snout.

"Sure I will help you... but it'll cost you!"

Ryoga gulped down the banana and stammered: "W-well... what do you want?"

"Oh, nothing much..." Louie sneered. "You see, I've been waiting for a way to get into the human village for years... but every time I did it, those humans would chase me away. Not very pleasant, I tell you! But since you are animals of the domestic persuasion, you could, I dunno... cause a bit of a ruckus, allowing me to sneak inside and..." A wide grin split the ape's muzzle. "Steal the red fire!"

Ryoga and Hen Wen looked at each other for a while.

Then Ryoga huffed. "Forget it!" he said. "I'm not helping someone to steal anything... apart from that, I don't think it would be a good idea to allow a clownish ape like you get your hands on fire."

"Now that hurt me, deep inside my heart!" Louie said mockingly. "You wanna tell me that you want to take your chances and get lost in here forever?"

Ryoga shrugged. "I've always managed to find my way around... besides, we're not really from that village. And I'm not really a pig, I'm a human!"

That made the orangutan laugh. In fact, Louie was laughing so hard that he almost fell out of the tree. "Y-you?" he roared with laughter. "A human? Man, if that's the truth, then I'm a water buffalo!"

"Too bad, Mr. Water Buffalo," Ryoga frowned. "I'm afraid we can't stay to chat, we need to go... come on, Hen Wen!"

"Yeah, okay!" the female piglet nodded. She didn't like the ape too much.

"Oooooh, leaving so soon?" Louie asked as he did a somersault and landed in front of the two pigs. "How about I take you back home to the ruins and introduce you to my friends?"

Ryoga frowned... which didn't look to threatening on a piglet's face. "Get out of my way!"

King Louie grinned. "Or what, porky pig?"

"Or I'll do this: BAKUSAI TENKETSU!" With a loud squeal, Ryoga touched a nearby rock with his hoof, causing it to explode and bombard the orangutan with a shower of pebbles.

"Ouch! Hey, ouch, that hurt!" He decided that he was not very pain tolerant, and therefore, let the two pigs go for now. They were not really worth it.

King Louie clambered up into the treetops, where he inspected the bruises on his arms. "Now why did he have to go and do that?" he grumbled. He knew that the pigs were lying. He knew what domestic pigs look like, and the human village was the only one in the area.

He yelped in surprise when a massive, dark shadow came dropping down from an even higher treetop.

"So... you want to put your hands on some fire, eh?" the fat, black-furred ape in front of him asked with a deep, chuckling voice. "Maybe I know of a way to help you... provided that you are willing to lend me your assistance."

"Who... are you?" Louie wondered. He had never seen this kind of ape in the jungle before.

"My name's Pete," the ape with the giant chin smirked. "And I think my friends here are just dying to help you."

He snapped his fingers, and all around him, with bursts of darkness, strange, monkey-like beings with black faces and round, glowing eyes appeared. The Powerwild Heartless chattered in excitement, hoping to gather some hearts in this world.


	16. Everybody wants to be a cat

"I'm telling you what, buddy..." King Louie replied with a frown. "I'm not liking this one bit. True, I'd love nothing more but to get my hands on some fire... but to tell you the truth, I'm not a bad guy. I'm just a fun-loving dude who wants to claim some similarities to his cousins, the humans. And your little monkey friends are creeping the heck out of me. So if you don't mind, I'm gonna go eat some bananas now..." And with these words, the agile orangutan disappeared in the leaves.

"Darn it..." Pete grumbled. "And here I thought finding an ally in a foreign world would be easy... Maleficent assured me that in every world, there has to be some scum that would love some easy power... but if it isn't this guy, then who...?"

He stopped in mid-sentence when he heard a strange, hissing voice coming from nearby.

"Trussst in meee... jusst in meee... close your eyes and... OUCH!"

Pete used the long arms of his new ape form to climb closer to the source of the voice. In no time, his eyes fell upon the owner of the voice: A long, green snake with yellow eyes and a big, swollen bump on the tip of its tails.

"Ooooooh, that hurts!" Kaa grimaced while blowing his tail. "Those little prankster monkeys have no senssse of humor... at least I don't think it's very funny when they drop a rock on my tail. All I want is some tasssty food...."

Pete grinned. "Now this one looks promising..."

* * *

Soun and Genma shuddered when the emotionless swordswoman entered the room, carrying a big bundle. She was the one who had ruthlessly attacked them an hour ago... and the main reason why they were crouching in the corner of the dojo, bound together by a thick rope.

Although, the mistress of the warrior was to blame as well...

Arlene smiled when her gaze fell upon the lifeless cat doll that was lying to her feet. "Well done, Celes... that's everything? He didn't move at all when you found him?"

"No, Mistress!" Celes replied, staring blankly into the air.

"Well, that means that the power supply of his doll must have run out... too bad this is just a puppet, I could have used it for my special potion..." She gestured towards the limp form of Cait Sith. "Put this one to the other specimens... maybe I can still use it as raw material..."

"Yes, Mistress... what about the two males?"

"Oh, them?" Arlene sauntered over to Genma and Soun and took a good look at them. Genma would have loved to tell her off, but that is never an easy thing to do when your mouth is covered with tape.

"Well, they are not female, so I won't be able to make some Soulmates out of them... but since they are pretty strong, maybe my beloved darling might have some use for them... turned into Heartless, of course..." She giggled.

With a simple gesture of her hand, two Soulmates appeared and dragged the two martial artists away. Celes, on the other hand, picked the body of Cait Sith up again and left the room as well.

Arlene looked down at the dojo's floor. "The Keyblade brat already sealed this Keyhole... well, no matter. This will be bad news for my darling, but what do I care about the Heart of all Worlds?"

She snickered. "Well, this little trip turned out to be better than I thought... first Kodachi, now these two guys... this world seems to be full of strong fighters... and most probably also many female ones. Oh yes, I will be able to create many, powerful Soulmates with such splendid raw material..."

She turned to leave. "Not to mention the unusual amount of sentient felines... they will serve well in my newest experiment..."

* * *

The lavender-furred cat rammed her small body against the wall of the metal box she was imprisoned in as strongly as she could. Like any cat, she was speaking in meows, but any cat would be able to translate these meows into the following words:

"Let Shampoo out of here! Shampoo no is normal cat... Shampoo is powerful amazon! You let Shampoo go, or else..."

"Will you give it a rest?" the other feline that was lying next to her sighed. "All you're going to accomplish is giving yourself a headache... and me as well, for that matter."

"Shampoo no need to talk to you," the cursed amazon hissed. "You is just common cat and can't understand that I'm not like you..."

"Obviously not," the black cat with the crescent moon on her forehead said. "Unlike me, you're not a Mau."

Shampoo stopped ramming the door with her cat body. "What... is a Mau?" she asked.

"Moon cat, advisor to the Sailor Senshi," Luna explained. "Normally, I wouldn't tell this anyone, but after all, you don't seem to be a normal cat either... or else they wouldn't have captured you."

"What you mean?" Shampoo frowned.

"You know, you should try to learn some Japanese," Luna told the Chinese kitty. "Even your meows have a Chinese accent. Also, didn't you hear what that woman has said? She's looking for 'sentient' cats... and unlike most of the cats living on Earth, you and me are both sentient, which means, capable of thought and speech. Understood?"

Shampoo scratched her head with her paw. "But Shampoo no can talk, only meow..."

Luna sighed. "Never mind... Well, your name is obviously Shampoo, isn't it? I am Luna. And since we are in this together, we should try to find a way out of here together. I don't think we can open this box with raw power."

Shampoo frowned. "But that's how Shampoo always solves her problems..."

"I'm surprised you managed to live this long..." Luna muttered. "Oh well... first, we have to find out where we are."

"We in metal box," Shampoo said, in case the black Mau had not noticed it.

Luna groaned. "Oh please, would you stop talking for a moment? You're worse than Usagi..." She peered out of the air holes in the wall of their prison. "Hmmmm, it looks like they are taking us somewhere..."

"But where?" Shampoo asked.

"How should I know, I'm a moon cat, not a psychic," Luna grumbled. "All I can see is that she has entering some sort of mansion and... HEY!"

She and Shampoo both yelped when the box suddenly got tilted, and they both were flung into one corner of the box.

"Take your paw out of my face, okay?"

"Then you take your tail away from Shampoo's nose!"

Suddenly, the box was opened, and the two cats fell down to the ground. Of course, they landed on their feet, like any cat would.

"Well, enjoy your new home!" the strange woman snickered, then she closed the door.

Luna looked around. They were in a bleak room, with almost no furniture. Only a few empty, wooden boxes and some dirty carpets were lying in the corner. "This looks like some sort of cellar..." she muttered. "And there's no other way out than this door."

The Chinese cat smirked. "Let Shampoo handle this!" She ran at the door, jumped into the air and turned around to hit the handle with a solid kick... but she yelped in pain when her foot connected with solid steel. "Ow! That was not supposed to happen..."

Luna groaned. "I told you, we won't solve this with brawns..."

"Hey, is she gone?" a high voice asked. And suddenly, several other cats were coming out of the boxes and from behind the stacked carpets.

Luna looked at the orange kitten that had spoken. "You... are not a Mau."

"Me? No, I don't think so... what's a Mau? My name's Oliver, and what's yours?"

"I'm Luna... and that barbarian brute that only thinks with her head is called Shampoo."

"Shampoo hear that..." the cat in question grumbled while nursing her injured paw.

"Well, looks like we got more company, folks," a grown tomcat, also colored orange, sighed. "You know how the old saying goes: Misery loves company!"

"Did you all get captured by... by that woman?" Luna asked while looking at all the cats that surrounded her.

"Yes, that mean old lady put me into a bag just while I was playing with Jenny..." Oliver said.

"And my pals and I were caught just when we were practicing our music," a more chubby, grey cat replied. And true enough, he and several other cats had cat-sized instruments with them, including a trumpet, a guitar and an accordion.

"What kind of cat plays the trumpet?" Luna frowned.

"A swinger cat, if you may, miss..." the chubby cat chuckled. "Pardon me, my name is Scatcat, this is my band, and this is my best friend named..."

"Abraham D'Lacey Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley," the orange tomcat smiled while taking Luna's paw. "But you may call me Tom!" And he gently kissed her paw.

Oliver made a disgusted face.

Luna was visible flustered. She blushed underneath her fur and stuttered: "W-w-well, I... am happy to make your, um, acquaintance, Mr. O'Malley..."

"You stop the mushy stuff and help Shampoo find a way out of here, okay?" Shampoo grumbled.

"There is no exit," Oliver explained. "I already looked... this door is the only way out, and it's always locked... well, except for when she brings in some new cats."

"What does she want to do with us, anyways?" Luna wondered, trying not to look at the charming smile of Tom.

"All we know is that she needs us for some 'experiments'," Scatcat explained. "She's come in here several times, took one of us... and we never saw him or her ever again."

"Dang, if only Shampoo had some hot water... then she could easily smash stupid door," Shampoo hissed. "I hate being stuck in cat body..."

"Excuse me?" Scatcat blinked. "Did I just hear that? A cat who doesn't want to be a cat?" He then smiled. "But everyone wants to be a cat! Don't you know the old song that goes like this..."

"Excuse me, but we really don't have the time to play music right now," Luna insisted. "Shampoo is right, we need to find a way out of here..."

"Oh, so you suddenly agree with what the 'barbarian brute' says?"

Shampoo angrily looked around. "Who said that?"

"That would be us..." Two sleek cats came slinking out of the shadows. "We are siamese, if you please..."

"We are siamese, if you don't please..."

"Oh boy..." Tom groaned. "Just what we needed... Si and Am, the troublemakers..."

The siamese twins ignored him. "Do you honestly think there's a way out of this prison?" Si asked Luna.

"Yes, do you actually believe that?" Am hissed. "That woman is a human... and humans are always stronger than cats."

"Or maybe you two are just a couple of scaredy cats," Tom mocked. "To your information, my friends and I once took care of a butler who wanted to kidnap the kittens of a good friend of mine."

"That's true, we helped him," Scatcat added, and his band members nodded.

"And I... I know this bad man who wanted to take Jenny away from her home," Oliver spoke up. "I thought I'd never see her again, but together with my friends, I managed to bring Jenny back home."

"So you see?" Luna smirked. "Humans might be bigger and stronger as cats, but if we work together, we might be able to trick her long enough to escape. Well, the main problem is: I don't actually think that she's a human..."

"Huh? What else is she supposed to be?" Oliver wondered.

"Don't listen to her! She's babbling nonsense!" Si hissed.

"Yes," Am agreed. "She's just leading you into danger!"

"Will you two shut it already?" Tom shouted. He turned to face Luna. "Well then, Miss Luna... would you explain to us what you mean when you say 'She isn't human'?"

"W-well, that is hard to explain..." Luna swallowed, once again enthralled by the charming voice of the handsome tomcat. She batted her head with her paw. 'Bad thoughts, Luna, bad thoughts! What would Artemis say?'

* * *

Artemis grinned while walking alongside Gatomon. "Say, do you have anything planned for Saturday evening? I know this very nice, Italian restaurant... and they sometimes have some spare food for hungry cats like us..."

"Nice try, Romeo..." Gatomon frowned as she followed her Digidestined.

Artemis groaned. "So beautiful... and yet so cruel..."

"Oh, really?" Minako huffed. "And what about Luna?"

The white Mau suddenly gulped. "Um, you're not telling Luna about this, aren't you?"

Minako grinned like the cat who caught the canary. She just loved to see him sweat like this.


	17. A phantom of the past

Reeve Tuesti struggled around in his bonds, but could not get free. They were firmly keeping him on the chair he was sitting on.

Being Balamb-Garden's head of security, the control room he was sitting in was his usual working place. But this time, he wasn't the one in charge... he was the prisoner. And during all these hours he had been forced to look upon the many monitors that were aligned above the main console... silently praying that neither of his friends would appear on any of them. For it would be their certain doom if the man who was currently holding him captive would find out their current location.

If the dark, hooded person that had attacked Balamb-Garden with his Heartless was a human being at all.

The hooded man turned around in mid-air, as he hovered in front of the bound Reeve. "It looks that your friends still manage to cause a stir," he said in a whispering voice. "Just a few minutes ago, that thief managed to break into the kitchen to steal some supplies... soon enough there won't be any food left for them. Do you want to see how your dear friends starve to death?"

"What about you?" Reeve grunted. "I don't suppose that you will be too happy if you don't have any food left for yourself."

"I feed on many things, Mr. Tuesti," the dark individual hissed. "But human food is not among these things. In a way, I am like that puppet you are controlling, the Cait Sith... I don't need to eat, I don't need to drink, I don't need to sleep. I just need to... recharge myself once in a while."

"If you are like Cait Sith, then maybe you are controlled by someone else as well," Reeve assumed. "Am I right? Are you somebody's puppet?"

The hooded man stayed silent for a moment. "That's what you would like to know, right? But what about you, Reeve Tuesti? Are you indeed the man controlling the puppet? Or is Cait Sith the true you. Isn't it the cat doll who made all the friends? Isn't Cait Sith's identity controlling your actions now?"

"Stop that!" Reeve shouted. "And tell me already why you're after my friends!"

"I told you, I need to know the whereabouts of the Scholar," the dark man replied. "As long as you refuse to tell me where he is, I will continue to torture you and your friends. They won't last for very long, you know? They might be able to defeat my Heartless... but I have a neverending supply of dark hearts at my disposal."

"What do you need the Scholar for, anyways?" Reeve demanded to know. "Is it because of his research regarding the Keyblade?"

"It is an intriguing weapon, yes," the hooded man nodded. His spindly fingers played with the crystal ball he was holding in his hands. "Many years in the past - or is that many years in the future? - I had to manipulate a whole clan of humans to do my bidding. But with the Keyblade... I could do so much more. Think about it... what do you need a key for?"

"To open a lock," Reeve replied. "So what?"

"Yes, but the Keyblade unlocks very special locks, don't you know? The Keyholes are the hearts of every single world... and once they are unlocked, they are helpless in front of the darkness." The eyes of the spooky man gleamed up in the darkness that was underneath his hood. "So you see? Just one single tool, to plunge so many worlds into nothingness... Truly, the Keyblade Masters are fools that they instead choose to use their weapons to seal the worlds from darkness. In the end, only Chaos will remain..."

"You are a coward!" Reeve snapped.

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

"If you were a man, you would at least have the guts to show me your face, or tell me your name!" Reeve shouted.

The floating figure chuckled. "I never implied that I am a man... and nobody has ever seen my face without becoming insane. I am... the phantom that seeks to bring death upon everyone! And I have returned for revenge..."

The evil being let its gaze sweep across the many monitors, until it saw what it had been looking for. At Balamb-Garden's main hangar, a giant bio-mechanical colossus with Gummi Blocks clinging to its surface had docked onto the biggest landing bay. In the smaller landing bay on the right, two smaller ships have landed. But the dark one's attention was focussed solely on the red-haired maiden that had climbed out of the mecha.

"So, we meet again, princess of the Earth..." he murmured. "I shall gladly repay you for what you and the accursed Moon Princess did to me... Sailor Terra!"

And the Wiseman's eyes lit up with glee.

* * *

"Dangit, did ya have to make it such a rough landing?" Ranma complained while Nabiki climbed out of her entry plug. "I was just drinking a glass of water, and look what it did to me."

"So sue me," the Evangelion pilot smirked at the drenched redhead. She looked around the huge hangar, and her eyes lit up when she saw all the high technological gadgets. "This place... it's wonderful! What do you say, do you think they are gonna let me use this as a workshop as soon as we save them? In addition to the usual fee, of course..."

"Stop that, Nabiki!" Akane said. "We will not demand any fee, we are doing this to help them."

"Just kidding, sis!"

Leormon's neck fur bristled, and his tail was twitching. "I don't like this place..." he growled. "Nothing natural about it, just dead steel, glass and cement..."

"Well, this IS a space station, after all," Kasumi said. "It wouldn't make any sense if trees were growing here, would it?"

"I still don't like it. I feel like I'm back in Guardromon's factory, and you know what happened when we first came there," the Rookie shuddered.

"You can hardly blame the technology for that," Nabiki frowned.

"Leormon is a creature of the wilderness, Nabiki," Kasumi explained. "It's just natural that he doesn't feel at home in here."

"Sorry that we aren't living in a floating forest," Rydia said with an amused glint in her eyes, as she and Tellah came walking over from the Enterprise. "But as soon as the Heartless are gone, Leormon should check out our training grounds... it's a big greenhouse, filled with plant life... but also with training monsters, I'm afraid."

Leormon grinned at the perspective. "A good brawl AND a natural environment? That sounds promising!"

"We have to keep that for later, I'm afraid," Tellah said. "Our enemy most likely already knows that we are here."

"How did he do that? Does he have the magical eye?" Ranma wondered.

Tellah simply gestured up to a security camera above their heads.

Akane angrily shot a fireball at the camera. It broke apart in a shower of glass and metal fragments. "I hate it when people spy on me without my permission," she grumbled.

"That won't help much," Rydia said. "He still knows we're here, and it's just a matter of time before the Heartless will be after us."

"Well, then we just have to strike them before they do," a cool voice said.

They turned their heads. Captain Faris had come from her pirate ship and approached them, her hand on the hilt of her curved saber. Her crew was still on board of the ship.

"Faris, thanks for coming to our aid," Rydia smiled. "May I introduce you to Keyblade Master Akane and her friends?"

"It's an honor to meet a Keyblade Master," Faris said, saluting Akane. "I'll be honest, for the longest time, I thought people like you were a myth..."

"Um... I didn't know about this for a long time either," Akane admitted. "I just recently learned what a Keyblade is... or Heartless, for that matter."

"But for being a newbie, she certainly knows how to use the Keyblade like a pro," Ranma grinned.

Akane blushed. She wasn't used to such praise, especially not coming from Ranma. "I... I just knew what to do. It came naturally to me, as if the Keyblade was just an extension of my arm..."

"In that case, we are glad that you decided to come for our aid," Faris nodded. "I take it you met Cait Sith?"

"They did... shortly before his internal power ran out," Tellah remarked grimly.

"Then our enemy knows we are coming... and when the time comes to face him, we might have to fight another old friend," Faris said. "Reeve Tuesti, Cait Sith's controller, may not be a strong warrior like General Celes, but he knows enough about guns and other mechanical weapons to give us some trouble... and there's no one that knows Balamb-Garden better than him. He could easily wait in ambush for us."

"Oh my..." Kasumi murmured, remembering how cold General Celes had acted when she attacked them. "I certainly hope not..."

"Well, what are we waiting for, then?" Ranma asked. "If we wait any longer, the bad dude's gonna put one of these headbands on him for sure."

"Just a minute," Faris spoke up. "I have brought a few things from my ship that should prove useful." And she knelt down and emptied a small leather pouch in front of them.

"What's this stuff?" Nabiki frowned as she picked up a tiny crystal.

"Materials," Rydia explained. "They can be used to forge incredibly useful items, through a process called 'Synthesis'. Using two Power Shards and two Spirit Shards, for example, will result in a Power Chain, an necklace that will strengthen its wearer."

"Sounds neat," Ranma remarked. "Well then, how do you do it?"

"Unfortunately, only Moogles know the exact process," Faris explained.

"Ah, then I guess it's a good thing that you have me around, kupo!" Mog said as he came fluttering out of the Enterprise's main hatch. Ranma blinked. She had nearly forgotten about Tellah and Rydia's little mechanic.

"But don't you need your workshop to do that?" Rydia asked the Moogle.

"No, not really," Mog replied. "I think there's enough equipment in the hangar and aboard the ship that I can make use of. Excuse me, please..." He took the materials and a couple of tools that were lying nearby and fluttered back inside the ship. For a while, they could hear how he was rummaging around inside.

Akane noticed that there was still another item lying on the floor. "Oh, he missed something," she said.

"Actually, that's not a material," Faris told her. She picked up the small, blue sphere. "This is a magic element."

"Just like the one Cait Sith gave to me!" Akane realized. "But... this one is blue, and the one he gave me was red."

"That's because the one he gave you was a Fire Element. This one is an Ice Element. It allows the user to cast the spell Ice."

"Sounds really 'cool', if you pardon me the pun," Nabiki spoke up.

"And... you're giving it to me?" Akane asked.

"It's yours, Keyblade Master!" Faris said as she handed the element over. "You have come here to save us, the very least we can do is to assist you with everything we have."

Akane accepted the Ice Element and touched it with her Keyblade, where it attached itself right next to the Fire Element.

She then pointed her Keyblade at an empty crate that was standing nearby and shouted: "ICE!"

Within seconds, the crate was covered by a thick layer of ice. Seconds later, both the ice and the crate broke apart.

"This really is cool," Akane grinned. "I'm really beginning to like this job..."

Kasumi, Ranma and Nabiki smiled at each other. They all knew what Akane meant... they all had felt it during their first adventures as heroes of Japan.

"Finished, kupo!" Mog shouted as he came flying back outside. He dropped a small assortment of items in Faris' hands. "Here, this is everything I was able to make from the materials you had... I decided to keep the rest of them for now, until you can bring me even better."

"These will do fine, thank you, Mog!" Faris said. She looked over the assembled group of adventurers. "Which one of you has the most potent magic spells?" she asked.

Nabiki grinned as she shoved Ranma forward a bit. "That would be her!"

Faris nodded. "Miss, this is for you. It is a Magic Armlet. It will boost your magic power when you wear it."

Ranma frowned when she accepted the accessory. "But it looks so girly..." she whined.

"Hey, you ARE a girl right now," Akane giggled.

Faris had to smile. "I perfectly understand you, Miss. I admit, I am a bit of a tomboy myself, even though I hate wearing women's clothing... would you imagine that one time, I was forced to wear a ball gown?"

Ranma wanted to point out that she wasn't really a girl, but she sighed in defeat and put the Magic Armlet on. If this would really help them, there was no use in complaining.

"Terra Star Power Make Up..." she mumbled and was transformed into her Senshi form.

Faris raised an eyebrow. "Very... flashy," she said. It certainly reminded her of her former ability to change job classes... even though she had to abandon that power when she and her friends had to give back the saved Crystals...

Faris raised the next accessories. "Well, I also have a Golem Chain and an Angel Bangle..."

"I think Akane should use the Golem Chain, she's the physical main attacker of the group," Tellah said.

"Okay, then I guess I take the Angel Bangle... whatever it does," Leormon grumbled.

After they all had put on their new accessories, Akane nodded to herself. She tightened her grip around her Keyblade and said: "Okay, let's go... we have a friend to save!"


End file.
